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Hil 


C7L7 


TEACHING,  A  SCIENCE: 


TEACHER   AN   ARTIST 


REV.  BAYNARD  R.  HALL,  A.M. 

PRINCIPAI,  OF  THE  CLASSICAL  AND  MATHEMATICAL  INSTITUTE,  NEWBURGH, 
AND  AUTHOR  OF    "  SOMETHING  FOR  EVERY  BODY,"    ETC. 


N  E  W-YORK: 
BAKER    AND    S  C  R  I  B  N  E  R 

145   Nassau   Street,    and    36   Park  Row. 

1848. 


SURPLUS  1 


t  •«>. 


'-^^l 


PVPC\CATF. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1847,  by 

BAKER  AND  SCRIBNER, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Southern  Dis- 
trict of  New-York. 


E.  0.  JEIfKINS,  PRINTER, 
No,  1 14  Nassau  Street. 


C0.NTENT8 


pREFArF,, 


Page 


(•ii.\i''i'?:n  1 

The  Artist.  13 

CHAPTER  II 
The  Science,  or  the  End  of  Teachine,  46 

CllAl'TlTv  III 
The  Tools  anH  In.itrunient.'-,  SI 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Arranging  and  iMatiagina;  the  iMaterial,  115 

CHAPTER  V. 
Schools,  in  their  Kinds,  Sort^  and  Varif  tie,-.  161 

UEIO    l>^ 


IV  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Page- 
Common  Schools,  .......         203 


CHAPTER  VII, 
Persons  most  suitable  for  Teachers,        ...         260 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

To  the  Young,     .  .....  289 


PREFACE. 


Tiiid  book  is  not  an  experiment,  but  an  experience, 
Facts  are  here  stated  rather  than  theories ;  yet  the 
former  verify  the  latter  as  held  by  the  author,  in 
common  with  numerous  educators  of  the  past  and 
the  present.  The  experienced  may  speak  without 
immodesty,  although  many  have  already  spoken  on 
the  same  topic ;  while  it  is  not  a  necessary  conse- 
quence that  nothing  remains  unsaid.  Should  nothing 
new  remain,  the  testimony  of  a  person  for  years  con- 
versant with  theory  and  practice,  may  aid  the  inqui- 
ries of  many,  and  especially  of  such  as  are  influenced 
by  the  number  as  well  as  the  character  of  witnesses. 

A  right  to  be  heard  conceded,  an  author  must  still 
consider  whether  his  experience  has  been  sufficiently 
long  and  varied  in  favorable  circumstances,  to  ren- 
der his  mere  testimony  of  value,  in  case  he  advances 
nothing  new.  Mis-judgment  on  this  point  is  very 
possible.  For,  while  men  over-rate  their  talents  and 
under-rate  their  influence,  yet  most  think  that  a  spe- 
cialty belongs  to  their  lives  which  authorizes  the 
obtrusion  of  themselves  upon  the  world. 


VI 


PREFACL. 


The  author's  reasons  for  deeming  his  experience 
of  some  value  are  these : — During  twenty-five  years 
he  has  been  a  teacher.  In  the  transition  from  boy- 
hood he  was  a  private  tutor  in  a  gentleman's  family. 
His  early  manhood  was  passed,  first,  as  principal  of 
a  State  institution,  and  then  as  a  professor  when  that 
institution  became  a  college.  Since  then,  and  dur- 
ing the  prime  of  life,  he  has  been  principal  of  schools 
various  in  their  character,  some  incorporated,  some 
independent  and  private.  These  schools  have  been, 
some  day-schools,  some  boarding-schools,  and  others 
a  combination  of  both.  He  has  been  also  an  assist- 
ant, and  thus  he  has  learned  to  follow  as  well  as  to 
lead,  to  receive  as  well  as  give  orders.  Mathemat- 
ics, sciences,  languages,  and  the  inferior  and  superior 
branches  of  the  english,  have  been  taught  by  him  ; 
and  his  pupils  have  been  of  several  nations,  of 
both  sexes,  of  every  age,  and  of  two  opposite  col- 
ors— descendants  of  Ham,  and  also  of  Japhet. 
Schools  under  his  care  have  been  hundreds  of  miles 
asunder,  differing  in  latitude,  morally  and  politically, 
not  less  than  geographically ;  thus  compelling  him, 
if  not  inclined,  to  several  modes  of  teaching,  gov- 
ernment and  discipline.  From  all  w^hich,  and  simi- 
lar reasons,  he  judges  that  the  world  will  give  him  a 
favorable  hearing. 

But  more  than  the  force  of  this  consideration  is 
claimed  for  a  perusal  of  the  book :  it  states  some 
things  new,  and  some  old  things  in  a  new  way,  and 
both  advantageous  to  the  educational  cause.  The 
real  value,  if  the  new  things  and  methods  are  dis- 
covered, must  be  determined  by  the  courteous 
reader. 


PREFACE.  yjl 

In  preparing  the  work,  certain  books  were  sug- 
gested as  containing  valuable  hints :  the  author,  how- 
ever, declined  consulting  these.  A  few  works  on 
education,  in  whole  or  in  part,  have,  in  the  course  of 
his  life,  been  read,  but  never  with  the  least  view  of 
obtaining  materials  for  his  own.  His  own  was  to 
be  an  experience,  and  that  cannot  be  transferred. 
He  has,  too,  always  wished  to  write  rather  than 
compile.  Works  recommended  may  be  better  or 
worse  than  this ;  courtesy  allows  the  former.  But 
the  value  of  this  book  depends  not  in  the  least  on  its 
comparative  merits.  Its  main  value  is  in  the  sepa- 
rate and  independent  testimony  ;  experience  and 
inference  are  stamped  on  the  pages. 

Ideas  derived  from  reading  and  conversation  are 
undoubtedly  in  a  work  of  this  kind.  They  are,  per- 
haps, in  the  following  chapters  never  in  a  detached 
form  ;  they  are  woven  with  the  texture,  and  contrib- 
ute to  form  a  whole  piece.  Possibly  one  or  two 
phrases,  and  frequent  sayings,  whose  parents  are 
dead  or  unknown,  have  been  adopted  as  the  au- 
thor's own ;  yet  he  pleads  guilty  to  the  fault  of  being, 
usually,  himself,  and  speaking  his  own  words.  He 
has  been  constantly  mindful  of  the  poet's  caution 
about  following  nature — that  it  was  his  own.  The 
fashion,  of  late,  in  educational  essays,  lectures  and 
treatises,  has,  indeed,  been  the  other  way  ;  but  some 
prefer  being  out  of  the  fashion,  even  if  they  must,  in 
consequence,  be  out  of  the  world.  Originality  may 
be  nothing  very  striking;  yet  our  own  copper 
thoughts  may  please  better  than  silver  ideas  stolen 
from  a  neighbor.     Novelty,  at  least,  is  refreshing. 


Viii  I'REFACK. 

The  younger  class  of  professional  teachers  may 
be  most  interested  in  this  work.  These  must,  for  a 
time,  follow  mainly  authority.  However  seeming 
the  paradox,  they,  who  modestly  submit,  in  earlier 
life,  to  proper  authority,  are  the  only  persons  that 
become,  afterwards,  independent  of  authority.  These 
"  grow  wiser  than  their  teachers,"  and  are  taught  by 
masters  how  to  become  themselves  authority  for 
others.  The  self-willed,  in  spite  of  all  empty  notions 
of  independence,  are  preparing  for  a  servitude  end- 
less and  severe.  Humility  before  exaltation,  de- 
pendence before  freedom,  is  a  law  of  our  being. 

Views,  indeed,  different  from  those  elsewhere  ob- 
tained, perhaps  opposite,  may  be  presented  in  this 
work.  Then,  the  young  teacher  must  decide, 
whether  to  follow  the  former  authorities  or  the  new  ; 
or  he  may  question  both.  The  smoothness  of  a  too 
easy  credence  is  roughened  ;  unthinking  obedience 
is  disturbed ;  he  stands  in  the  midst  of  wholesome 
doubts.  Deeper  search  commences,  that  leads  to 
thorough  investigation,  not  of  books — these  he  now 
in  a  measure  distrusts — but  of  his  subject  as  it  offers 
in  daily  practice.  He  is  compelled  to  study  nature. 
Soon  comes  a  modification  of  former  opinions  ;  and 
finally,  a  set  of  opinions  self-originated,  and  com- 
pounded of  old  and  new. 

Resulting  systems  cautiously,  slowly,  and  labori- 
ously created  in  honest  minds,  independent  and  ca- 
pable of  thinking,  must,  of  necessity,  agree  in  essen- 
tial features  ;  and  that  essential  agreement  is  truth 
and  nature.  While  different  minds  arrive  at  the 
same  or  similar  conclusions,  still  each  mind  is  a  sep- 


PREFACE.  [x 

arate  originator.  For  the  results  are  all  reached  by 
separate  and  independent  efforts.  A  thinker  is  vir- 
tually alone  in  the  mental  world  ;  although  the  vis- 
ible and  tangible  teems  with  individuals  creating,  at 
the  same  moment,  the  same  systems  and  theories. 
Originality  does  not  mean  singularity.  Millions 
see  the  same  sun  ;  but  each  man  sees  for  himself  and 
not  another.  He  does  not  see  because  others  see  ; 
and  without  eyes  he  would  see  nothing.  So  is  it  in 
the  world  of  thought,  so  with  all  arts  and  sciences, 
and  so  with  the  art  and  science  of  teaching, 

The  present  work  is  mainly  valuable  as  one  of 
the  resulting  systems.  If  true,  it  must  coincide 
with  the  experience  of  many.  Idiosyncratic  pecu- 
liarities may  be  discovered,  or  possibly  suspected  : 
yet  it  follows  not,  that  seeming  peculiarities  may 
not  prove,  after  all,  truth  and  nature. 

From  these  remarks,  a  work  of  this  kind  may  not 
prove  without  value  to  teachers  and  theoretic  edu- 
cators, of  maturer  age.  Few  know  absolutely 
everything  belonging  to  their  profession.  Men,  too, 
of  sterling  abilities  are  truly  modest ;  and  when  long 
isolated,  they  often  become  timid.  Then  they  value 
highly  in  others,  what  they  themselves  possess  in 
greater  degree  and  abundance.  On  many  points 
they  have  correct  opinions  ;  but  still  they  are  not 
confident  in  their  conclusions.  Could  they  only 
know  that  other  thinkers  hold  the  same  conclusions, 
they  would  be  bold.  With  them,  two  are  better 
than  one  ;  although  they  themselves  may  be  giants, 
and  their  comrades  pigmies. 


X  PREFACE. 

But  theories  and  practices  need  occasional  cor- 
rections. And  even  seeming  peculiarities  in  an  au- 
thor, may  awaken  a  salutary  suspicion  of  peculiarity 
in  the  reader.  Habit  becomes,  indeed,  a  second 
nature  ;  still,  a  habit  may  be  like  an  old  and  favorite 
coat — the  w^orse  from  the  wearing,  and  scarcely 
worth  the  mending.  If  the  book  is  instrumental  in 
furnishing  a  better  habit,  although  such  may,  at 
first,  sit  awkwardly  and  pinch  and  rub,  it  may,  in 
time,  make  some  worthy  gentlemen  comport  them- 
selves according  to  the  dignity  of  the  profession. 

Books  and  systems  of  education  are  not  reviewed 
in  these  chapters.  Reasons  are  not  studiously  given 
for  animadversion  or  commendation.  Professed  art- 
ists are  allowed  to  furnish  opinions  ;  and  these  opin- 
ions have  weight  with  the  reader  according  to  his 
estimation  of  the  author.  They  may,  indeed,  be 
subjected  to  examination  ;  although,  where  we  sur- 
render ourselves  to  the  character  of  a  writer,  we 
think  that  a  surrender  to  argument,  and  an  acquies- 
cence in  logical  conclusions.  An  author,  however, 
who  deems  his  opinions  truth,  cannot  object  if  they 
are  regarded  as  rules,  whether  the  induction  be  per- 
ceived or  not.  His  own  mind  is  satisfied  ;  he  pre- 
sumes his  opinions  will  benefit  others.  Yet,  they 
who  are  moved  by  authority  against  a  book  or  a 
system  to-day,  will  easily  to-morrow  be  moved  in  its 
favor  by  a  greater,  or  possibly  equal  authority. 

The  author  is  willing  that  his  remarks  should  be 
applied  or  appropriated  justly  ;  but  earnestly  does 
he  deprecate  special  application  and  appropriation, 
in  any  of  the  communities  where  he  may  have  been 


PRJEFACK.  ji 

a  resident.  Few,  very  tew  teachers  have  such 
cause  of  gratitude,  and  to  more  friends  and  ac- 
quaintances, in  different  sections  of  the  Union,  than 
himself.  He  has  not,  indeed,  been  exempt  from  un- 
pleasant things ;  yet  honestly  does  he  affirm  that  all 
have  been  not  more  than  a  small  drop  of  bitter  in  a 
full  cup  of  sweetness.  He  has  every  reason  to  love 
his  profession  ;  and  nothing  would  be  more  painful, 
than  a  mis-application  or  a  mis-appropriation  of  his 
severe  animadversions. 

This  book  may  be  read  without  detriment  by  any 
class.  It  is  designed,  however,  for  teachers,  theo- 
retical and  practical,  and  for  educators  generally 
for  all  who  have  children  to  educate  or  intend  to 
have ;  for  trustees  of  schools,  visitors,  and  examin- 
ers, and  all  who  attend  examinations  ;  for  legislators, 
both  those  who  are  deemed  fit  for  the  house  of  as- 
sembly by  majorities,  and  those  that  think  themselves 
fit,  and  who  will  be  sent  when  the  political  complex- 
ion changes,  and  the  logic  of  majority  changes  with 
it ;  for  true  patriots  and  philanthropists,  and  all  that 
would  be  thought  such.  It  is  desi-^iied  somewhat 
particularly  for  clergymen  and  students  of  divinity. 
It  has  a  very  special  eye  to  the  interest  of  book- 
makers and  book-mongers  ;  and  even  the  book- 
agents,  that  show  off  and  talk  off  school-books  with 
an  admirable  liquidity  of  glibness,  and  offer  "new 
lamps  for  old  ones,"  may  find  in  this  book  some 
profitable  hints  relative  to  their  benevolent  vo- 
cation. 

In  general,  the  style  of  the  work   is  the  simple 
style  of  testimony.     No  pretension  is  made  to  be 


Xli  PREFACE. 

ranked  as  a  book  of  elegant  literature.  The  author 
rather  walks  in  slippers  than  steps  in  boots.  But 
criticism  is  not  deprecated  :  the  author  expects  to 
be  set  right  where  he  is  wrong.  If  scourging  is 
merited,  he  may  wince,  but  he  will  not  whine ;  and 
if  critics  are  mistaken,  he  may  perchance  endeavor 
to  show  their  errors.  And  yet,  in  justice  to  himself, 
it  must  be  said  that  a  better  choice  of  words  among 
synonyms,  a  more  terse  style,  and  an  easier  flow  of 
sentences,  might,  perhaps,  have  characterized  the 
book,  if  time  and  opportunity  had  been  at  the  au- 
thor's disposal.  But,  like  his  other  productions,  this 
has,  of  necessity,  been  hurried :  his  study  being  in 
no  particular  place,  and  the  merry  sound  of  juvenile 
voices  being  ever  in  his  ear.  He  will  try  and  do 
better  next  time. 

In  conclusion,  he  says,  ex  animo,  that  he  aims  in 
this  work  solely  at  usefulness  ;  if  he  fails  in  that  in- 
tention, his  sorrow  will  be  unfeigned. 

Newburgh,  Orange  Co.,  N.  Y..  Nov..  1847. 


CHAPTER    I. 


THE   ARTIST. 

The  just  appreciation  of  our  own,  is  no  dispar- 
agement of  other  men's  office,  character,  or  dignity. 
It  is  sometimes  due  to  persons  who  sustain  a  charac- 
ter, or  discharge  the  duties  of  an  office,  or  administer 
a  law,  to  set  such  in  their  true  hght.  The  neglect 
of  that  duty  is  not  infrequently  fraught  with  many 
and  great  evils.  We  may,  at  any  time — we  must, 
at  certain  times — magnify  our  office. 

The  character' and  office  of  the  teacher,  if  not 
the  first,  are  among  the  first,  in  importance  and  dig- 
nity. Nor  does  courtesy,  or  proper  humility,  require 
this  remark  to  be  restricted  to  the  profession  as  it 
might  be ;  it  is  true  of  the  profession  as  it  exists. 
Teachers  enough,  of  every  age,  and  in  all  the  grades, 
can  be  selected,  who,  embodying  in  themselves  all 
that  usually  challenges  admiration,  inspires  confi- 
dence, and  begets  reverence  in  beholders,  show 
plainly  that  the  possible  and  desirable  is  in  the  con- 
crete as  well  as  the  abstract. 


14 


CIIArTER    1. 


Measuring  importance,  grandeur,  dignity,  by 
the  nature  of  a  service  and  the  end  to  be  attained, 
the  profession  of  a  teacher  stands  eminent.  Its  end 
is  to  form  man  ;  or,  it  fits  man  for  his  duties.  The 
numberless  essays  on  education ;  the  laws  ever 
made  in  civilized  nations,  with  the  rich  endow- 
ments presented  by  the  State  ;  the  countless  books 
and  apparatus  of  instruction ;  the  almost  count- 
less teachers  and  schools ;  the  lectures  on  all 
these  principal  and  subordinate  topics  ;  these,  and 
the  like,  all  proclaim,  with  endless  repetition,  and 
with  a  thousand  voices,  the  opinions  of  the  good, 
the  wise,  the  learned,  the  patriotic,  the  Christian, 
the  philosopher,  and  the  statesman,  concerning  the 
training  of  man.  These  all  say  that  man  untaught, 
untrained,  undisciplined,  is,  with  all  his  native  pow- 
ers, of  small  value,  either  to  himself  or  the  world. 

Not  only  is  man  placed  in  a  world  of  materials, 
to  be  arranged,  fashioned,  wrought,  and  applied  to 
uses  ;  but  man  himself,  especially  in  his  earlier  days, 
is  a  material  to  be  fashioned  by  his  superiors,  and 
thus  to  become  adapted  to  the  ends  of  his  riper  and 
mature  state.  Without  the  forming  hand  of  others, 
man,  like  the  unwrought  materials  of  the  earth  in  a 
confused  mass,  would  be  almost  valueless.  Some- 
times, like  these,  he  would  be  a  nuisance.  At  best 
he  could  become  but  a  tool  in  the  hands  of  the 
adept  and  educated.  He  may  have  much  negative 
happiness,  and  be  forced  into  industrious  habits, 
while  dwelling  in  an  enlightened  community  where 
cultivated  intellects  give  him  the  law,  and  guide,  and 
govern,  and  protect ;  but,  deprived  of  these  advan- 


THE    ARTIST.  jc 

tages  by  accident,  and  thrown  back  into  the  savage 
state,  and  remaining  himself  uneducated,  he  would 
soon  degenerate  into  the  worst  forms  of  barbarism. 

It  is  a  great  error,  and  it  has  an  extensive  and 
baleful  influence  on  sound  learning,  the  common 
opinion  entertained  oftener  than  it  is  expressed,  and 
yet  often  expressed  in  places  polished  and  refined  : 
that  as  many  are  rich,  and  prosperous,  and  caressed, 
and  honored,  who  are  without  even  the  rudiments  of 
education,  therefore,  the  discipline  of  the  schools, 
and  of  learning,  is  not  essential.  And  this  opinion, 
like  a  thousand  similar  falsities,  gains  strength  from 
the  unguarded  remarks  of  pettishness  and  disap- 
pointment in  the  well-educated  themselves.  Yet  the 
error  is  as  egregious  as  when  non-resistants,  encom- 
passed in  their  homes  by  the  militia  of  the  country, 
and  the  bulwarks  of  defence,  tell  us  how  secure  they 
are  in  ultra-peaoe  principles,  without  fighting  or 
self-defence  !  Let  such  pitch  a  tent,  or  rear  a  bark- 
hut,  in  the  far-off  prairies,  or  the  wide  and  tangled 
forest,  away  from  friends  and  amid  bandits,  and  that 
will  test  the  truth  of  the  ultra  principles  of  non-resist- 
ants.    So  is  it  with  the  unlearned  and  undisciplined. 

Would  we  see  at  once  what  these  fortunate  per- 
sons would  have  been  without  the  advantages  of  a 
cultivated  society  for  the  place  of  their  residence  ? 
Behold  it  in  the  savage  state  itself!  The  external 
differences  between  the  brute  and  the  man  are 
scarcely  greater  and  more  apparent  than  between 
the  man  of  nature  and  the  man  of  art !  And  harsh 
as  it  may  seem,  we  yet  must  ever  rank,  and  gener- 
ally speaking  we   deserve  to  rank,  in  the   scale   of 


16  CHAPTER    I. 

excellence  according  to  the  degree  of  our  mental 
and  moral  culture. 

On  this  point  observations  may  be  indefinitely 
extended  ;  for,  after  volumes  should  have  been  writ- 
ten to  prove  and  illustrate  the  position,  that  man  is 
truly  man  only  when  educated  and  disciplined,  much 
and  different  would  remain  unsaid. 

Is  the  teacher  indispensably  requisite  to  this  for- 
mation ?  or  rather  this  creation  ? — for  an  educated 
man  is  as  much  a  creation  as  a  painting  or  a  statue. 

The  materials,  indeed,  of  the  moral  and  mental 
formation  are  sought  by  the  artist  within  and  not 
without  his  subject ;  but  all  the  qualities  of  the 
artist  must  belong  to  the  teacher :  quick  and  keen 
perception,  the  faculty  of  arrangement,  taste,  skill, 
tact,  patience,  enthusiasm  !  What,  then,  the  vast- 
ness,  the  dignity,  the  grandeur  of  the  teacher's  pro- 
fession ! 

In  some  things  a  maker  is  known  from  his  works ; 
in  others  his  work  is  admired,  but  with  no  thought 
of  himself.  And  yet  in  this  latter  class  of  creations 
or  formations,the  maker  is  no  less  worthy  admiration, 
and  reverence,  and  thanks,  than  in  the  former. 

In  poetry,  painting,  statuary,  music,  architecture, 
and  some  other  arts,  the  formations  of  which  break 
upon  the  monotony  of  life,  and  delight  with  compar- 
ative novelty,  thus  serving  to  recreate  the  minds  of 
beholders  ;  or  the  formations  of  which  force  and 
rivet,  for  awhile,  our  attention,  by  being  placed 
amidst  surrounding  objects,  dull  and  ordinary,  per- 
haps discordant ;  in  these  we  see  the  beauties,  the 
grandeurs,  at  once.     We  spontaneously   cry,  How 


THE    AKTIST. 


17 


wonderful  !  how  delightful !  how  majestic  !  and,  at 
the  sanne  moment,  with  feelings  in  unison  with  the 
real  excellence  of  the  works,  we  think  of  the  maker. 
An  isolated  monument — a  triumphal  arch — a  solemn 
cathedral — a  stately  ship,  graceful  in  the  repose  of 
a  swtin-like  dignity  upon  the  bosom  of  still  waters — 
awake  sentiments  of  admiration  and  reverence,  not 
only  towards  the  works,  but  towards  the  workman 
and  contriver. 

Myriads  of  common  things,  however,  awake  no 
interest.  We  think  no  more  of  them  and  their 
makers  than  if,  like  mushrooms,  they  had  fortuitously 
sprung  from  the  earth.  Yet  many  such  things  are 
intrinsically  excellent ;  some  are  grand  ;  and  talents 
the  most  versatile,  and  genius  the  most  commanding, 
marked  the  originators  and  doers.  Who  is  stirred 
with  profound  emotions  in  beholding  daily  the  ma- 
chinery of  a  cotton  factory,  or  any  other  wonder- 
ful, half-sentient,  life-moving  apparatus  ?  Who 
thinks  of  contrivance,  and  skill,  and  of  architects, 
on  the  bank  of  a  canal,  or  on  a  Macadamized  road  ? 
Yet  great  minds  conceived  and  created  these. 

The  surpassing  glories  of  a  diurnal  sun ;  the 
matchless  beauties  of  a  nightly  moon  ;  the  sweet 
fragrance  of  garden  flowers  ;  or  the  changeful  and 
grateful  colors  of  the  meadow's  grass,  do  not  always 
instantly  move  the  soul  of  the  beholders  :  but  the 
sudden  gleam  of  strange  meteors ;  or  the  keen  vibra- 
tion of  the  unexpected  lightning  ;  or  the  awful  roar 
of  the  deep-voiced  thunder  ;  the  heavy  moan  of 
the  ocean's  mountain  waves  ;  or  the  throes  of  the 
earth's  agony  in  the  convulsions  of  an  earthquake  ; 


J  8  CHAPTER   I. 

these  speak  and  are  heard — these  stir  the  stagnant 
depths  of  the  heart,  and  force  us  to  exclaim,  "  Great 
is  God." 

Thus  in  regard  to  education  :  its  admirable  and  im- 
portant effects  are  so  common  that,  Hke  the  rising  of 
the  sun,  and  the  falling  of  the  dew,  and  the  congeal- 
ing of  the  frost,  they  ordinarily  arrest  no  attention — 
they  are  things  of  course — they  happened  yesterday, 
we  see  them  to-day,  they  will  be  to-morrow.  But 
when  some  herculean  achievement  in  literature  or 
science,  or  some  literary  work,  aside  from  the  com- 
mon track,  is  announced,  then  the  mind  is  attentive, 
and  notices  the  vast  wideness  of  man  cultivated 
from  man  in  his  native  nothingness  ;  and  then  the 
true  excellence  of  all  the  means  of  education — its 
schools,  and  colleges,  and  teachers,  and  professors, 
and  books — all  come  in  for  a  share  of  admiration 
and  praise. 

The  teacher,  in  his  office  and  profession,  aims  at 
these  grand  results.  As  such  results  are  wonderful, 
noble,  beneficial,  so  is  that  office  full  of  all  dignity 
and  grandeur ;  and  this,  whether,  from  the  com- 
monness of  the  excellencies,  they  are  noticed  and 
admired  or  not.  Nay,  as  our  souls  are  frequently 
moved  in  serious  meditation  on  what  is  most  com- 
mon, so  the  more  we  consider  the  daily  and  hourly 
excellencies  and  advantages  of  education — the  deep 
horror  of  darkness  that  would  be,  if  all  its  lights 
were  withdrawn  or  extinguished — the  more  shall 
we  revere  the  men  of  instruction  ! 

Teaching  is  a  science  ;  and  the  teacher,  reducing 
its  principles  to  practice,  is  an  artist.     That  many 


THE    ARTIST. 


19 


professed  teachers  are  incompetent,  is  admitted : 
every  profession  has  its  pretenders.  That  few  com- 
petent teachers  are  fully  sensible  of  the  majesty  of 
their  office,  and  its  many  and  great  responsibilities, 
is  too  true  :  selfishness  is  more  general  and  domi- 
nant than  benevolence.  But  the  true  teacher  is  an 
artist.  He  resembles  not  an  engineer  on  a  steam- 
car,  nor  a  helmsman  at  the  rudder  of  a  ship.  Such 
men  must  be  faithful  and  watchful,  yet  do  they  need 
little  intelligence  and  skill  beyond  the  ability  to  turn 
a  spiggot,  or  to  push  a  lever,  according  to  rules  pre- 
scribed by  the  master-spirits  of  the  boiler  and  the 
compass.  The  existence  of  so  many  teachers,  how- 
ever, whose  competency  is  only  that  of  an  ordinary 
engineer  and  helmsman,  and  the  great  deficiency  on 
the  score  of  generous  and  elevated  enthusiasm  in 
many  who  otherwise  are  masters,  show  how  deeply 
rooted  in  the  very  core  of  the  community  is  the  be- 
lief, that  education  is  indispensable  to  the  well-being 
of  that  community.  The  heathen  nations,  rather 
than  be  without  any  God,  choose  a  thousand  :  the 
world,  for  a  similar  reason,  tolerate  false  teachers; 
and  where  the  good  cannot  be  obtained,  content 
themselves  with  the  bad. 

The  true  teacher  is  an  artist — a  former — a  crea- 
tor. Books,  apparatus,  systems  of  instruction,  are 
his  implements.  With  these  tools  he  erects  his  edi- 
fice, he  shapes  his  block  of  marble.  He  that  depends 
on  these  tools  to  do  his  work  in  education,  is  no 
teacher  in  the  lofty  and  proper  sense  of  the  term. 
He  resembles  more  the  mason  that  looks  to  the  liod 
and  trowel  to  erect  the  wall,  or  the  statuary  that 


20 


CllAr'lER    I. 


asks  the  chisel  to  create  !  Some — many — do,  in- 
deed, teach  by  Une  and  rule,  even  as  a  street  organ- 
ist plays  music  by  a  crank  :  the  latter  produces  the 
same  tunes,  with  endless  reiteration,  till  the  mechan- 
ism wears  out ;  the  former  do  with  one  mind  what 
is  done  with  another,  and  by  applying  the  same  in- 
struments, and  in  the  same  manner  !  or,  they  ad- 
minister books  and  lessons  as  quacks  do  their  pills, 
potions,  and  panaceas  ;  they  are  equally  pretenders. 

No  competent  teacher  undervalues  suitable  books, 
apparatus,  and  systems.  But,  without  the  compe- 
tent teacher,  all  such  things  must  be  more  or  less 
insufficient ;  sometimes  they  may  be  injurious.  A 
botch  may  essay  to  use  the  tools  of  a  master-work- 
man ;  and,  although  he  may  to  many  seem  to  use 
them  aright,  to  the  discerning,  his  work  will  be  the 
same  as  caricature.  A  good  carpenter  will  prefer, 
indeed,  a  good  adze,  because  he  can  do  better  than 
with  a  poor  one  ;  but  the  botch  would  often  cut  the 
worse,  and  in  a  wrong  direction. 

Instruments  for  many  trades  and  handicrafts  may 
be  so  improved  that  a  child  may  do  the  labor  of  a 
man  ;  and  an  apprentice,  or,  indeed,  a  person  igno- 
rant of  all  arts,  may  do  as  well  as  the  most  adroit 
and  skilful  workman  :  yet  not  so  in  education.  That 
cannot  be  done  by  mere  machinery.  Whoever, 
therefore,  aims,  in  making  school-books,  at  such  per- 
fection as  that,  in  elementary  education,  accom- 
plished and  competent  masters  may  be  dispensed 
with,  aims  at  an  utter  impossibility.  His  claims  to 
such  contrivances  merit  contempt.  He  has  never 
been  properly  schooled  himself.    He  can  be  classed 


THE    ARTIST. 


21 


only  with  tlie  makers  and  venders  of  nostrums  and 
specifics  ;  and  all  who  buy  his  quackeries,  and,  with- 
out any  skill  and  genius  of  their  own,  expect  by  such 
means  to  become  teachers,  are  like  the  credulous 
and  sapient  folk  that  procure  an  herb-doctor's  book 
of  directions,  and  his  botanical  chest,  and  commence 
the  practice  of  medicine.  No  wise  and  learned  man, 
if  an  honest  man,  can  make  such  books  ;  and  an 
honest  man,  without  learning,  is  incompetent  to  make 
any  books  for  schools. 

The  teacher,  as  an  artist,  possesses  intellectual 
and  moral  qualifications  that  must  class  him  with 
the  best,  and  show  that  his  oflice  or  profession  ranks 
among  the  highest  in  dignity  and  importance.  The 
teacher  must  be,  among  other  things,  a  philosopher, 
a  judge,  a  ruler,  a  parent,  a  preacher ;  and  he  must  be, 
also,  learned  and  scientific.  He  must  have  power 
over  himself.  He  must  be  conversant  with  men  as 
well  as  books.  He  must  be  disinterested.  He  must 
possess  an  ardent  love  of  learning,  and  must  de- 
light in  Iiis  creations,  as  specimens  of  an  approxima- 
tion to  the  beau  ideal.  And  this  spirit,  and  this  en- 
thusiasm, make  him  press  onward  through  dilUcul- 
ties  and  discouragements,  and  over  obstacles  and 
impediments,  unwearied,  towards  the  attainment  of 
his  end,  unmoved  by  the  carpings  of  the  envious,  the 
insolence  of  the  rich  and  covetous,  the  revilings  of 
the  slanderous,  the  prejudices  of  the  ignorant,  the 
baseness  of  the  fraudulent,  the  anger  of  the  revenge- 
ful, the  ingratitude  of  the  thankless  and  the  vile  ! 
He  has  contemplated  the  way ;  he  has  seen  its  dan- 
gers and  darkness  ;  he  hns  heard  the  fierce  cries  of 
2* 


22  fllAI'TER    I. 

the  wild  beasts,  and  the  howl  of  the  cruel  tempest ! 
He  has  counted  the  cost,  and  at  the  end  of  a  labo- 
rious life  of  toil  and  sweat,  he  has  seen  poverty  and 
reproach  ;  and  yet  he  has  resolved  that  he  will  edu- 
cate !  He  has  done  this,  even  as  others  say,  I  will 
paint !  I  will  carve  !  I  will  write  ! 

This  man's  reward  is  not  the  paltry  price  so  often, 
so  very  often,  doled  out  by  grudging  spirits,  and 
with  an  unwilling  hand  and  a  supercilious  brow,  as 
if  the  pittance  were  more  than  a  price  !  as  if  a  mas- 
ter gave  something  to  a  slave  !  or  as  if  the  teacher 
receiving  his  fee  were  a  hateful  necessity  to  be 
borne — a  beggar  to  be  fed  !  No  !  the  teacher's  soul, 
stung,  indeed,  at  meanness,  suspicion,  distrust,  thank- 
lessness ;  pityingi  ignorance,  with  its  self-compla- 
cency and  conceit ;  indignant  at  the  repetition  of 
petty  frauds — his  soul  soars  away  up,  far  above  the 
grovelling,  and  looks  from  the  lofty  heights  far  on- 
ward, when  his  productions  shall  stand  majestic 
among  the  cultivated  sons  of  earth  !  He  sees  his 
children  enacting  and  guarding  laws,  administering 
justice,  defending  right,  punishing  evil,  vindicating  the 
wronged  and  oppressed,  patronizing  the  arts,  repel- 
ling the  invader,  by  skill  as  well  as  by  force  ;  he  sees 
him,  with  keen  and  burnished  weapons,  asserting 
and  defending  truth !  he  sees  him  an  ambassador 
from  God  to  man — a  preacher  of  the  gospel  of  Christ ! 
And  then  calmly,  yet  with  a  thrill,  does  the  teacher 
aw^ait  that  day,  when  the  voice  of  One  shall  say, 
before  assembled  worlds,  "  Well  done  !  thou  good 
arid  faithful  servant,  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy 
Lord  !" 


•IHE    ARTrST. 


23 


Rarely  does  the  world  see  in  an  artist  more  than 
his  skill.  What  constitutes  skill  few  can  explain  ; 
few,  indeed,  can  understand  in  what  it  consists,  if  it 
were  explained.  Generally,  practice  is  deemed 
skill.  The  differences  between  an  ordinary  and  a 
great  painter,  or  between  an  inferior  and  a  superior 
poet,  are  regarded  as  differences  of  practice  !  Rules, 
it  is  supposed,  are  in  existence,  by  a  persevering 
compliance  with  which  any  one  may  become  an 
artist,  and  emerge  from  dim  obscurity  to  broad  light — 
may  become,  at  last,  a  master  ! 

The  importance  of  rule,  embodying  the  wisdom 
and  discovery  of  experience  in  the  past,  and  tested 
by  the  daily  application  of  laborious  diligence,  is  ac- 
knowledged. Rule  is  even  necessary  to  skill.  But 
he  that  reaches  the  summit  heights  in  art,  must  have 
genius,  and  be  a  philosopher. 

Rules  are  only  the  expression  of  principles  and 
truths,  in  their  broadest  shapes  and  forms.     They 
present    merely   the    tangible    and    visible ;    they 
cannot  embody  what  is  ethereal  and  spiritual.   What 
rules  do  show,  is  truth  ;  and  what  is  formed  in  art, 
must  have  essentially  all  that  rules  contain.    And 
the  formation  must  have  also  what  rules  do  not  con- 
tain :    it  must    have    sometimes    more — sometimes 
less — sometimes  a  diflierence  and  variety — and  al- 
ways a  vitality,  a  breathing   spirit,  not  in  the  rules. 
That  spirit  must  be  breathed  into  the   creation  by 
the  artist  himself!     Iiidcliaiiblc  things,  and  countless, 
rules  cannot  contain  ;  they  were  never  made  to  con- 
tain them  !     Sounds  to  move  the  soul  with  sadness, 
or  joy,  can  never  be  evoked  from  an  imperfect  in- 


24  CHAPTER    1. 

strument  of  music  even  by  a  master's  hand ;  and 
yet,  in  vain  does  other  than  a  master's  liand  touch  the 
keys  or  strings  of  a  perfect  instrument  !  The  other 
may  pkiy  by  note  and  he  may  play  by  rule  ;  but  his 
performance  will  be  noise  in  comparison  of  the  mas- 
ter's melody. 

The  rigorous  application  of  w^ritten  and  tradition- 
al rules  sometimes  produces  caricature.  Rules, 
more  than  these,  are  applied  by  the  artist ;  but  they 
are  formed  by  himself  from  recondite  and  elaborate 
study  and  insight  into  the  inner  nature  of  his  sub- 
ject ;  or,  from  an  intuitive  perception — the  result  in 
part  of  philosophic  habits — he  becomes,  in  novel 
circumstances,  a  rule  unto  himself. 

These  remarks  apply  to  the  teacher.  His  raw 
material  comes  into  his  hands,  all  alike  seemingly  in 
most  things,  and  really  alike  in  many  respects ;  and 
all  seem,  to  the  superficial  observer,  fit  subjects  for 
the  rigorous  application  of  certain  well-known  rules* 
If  such  rules  are  only  faithfully  and  perse veringly 
applied,  education,  it  is  thought,  will  be  done  on  the 
whole  mass,  and  it  will,  of  necessity,  be  changed  in 
due  season  into  beautiful  and  useful  fabrics  ! 

The  teacher  knows  better.  He  knows  that  vari- 
eties in  species  very  great,  and  differences  in  the 
sorts  minute  and  countless,  will  not  be  fitted  to  the 
obvious  rules.  He  knows  that  the  more  inflexible 
the  rigor  of  the  application  of  rules  in  certain  cases, 
the  more  danger  of  ruining  the- minds.  If  the  teacher 
cannot  now  be  a  rule  unto  himself;  if  genius  and 
philosophic  power  be  not  resident  in  him  as  in  other 
true  artists,  he   will  mis-educate  !     It  mav  seem  a 


THE    ARTIST. 


25 


small  matter  who  teaches  a  school — but  hiuidrcds  of 
children  are  utterly  and  hopelessly  ruined  by  inar- 
tistical  and  incompetent  teachers  !  Small  compara- 
tively is  the  ruin  of  a  statue  or  a  picture,  to  the 
ruin  of  a  mind,  either  intellectually  or  morally.  And 
yet  men  will  laugh  to  scorn  the  pseudo-painter  or 
statuary,  and  tolerate — tolerate  ? — nay,  will  often 
prefer  and  more  liberally  reward,  the  pseudo- 
teacher  ! 

It  is  passing  strange,  that  often  when  a  parent  or 
guardian  is  about  to  commit  a  child  or  ward  to  a  cel- 
ebrated teacher,  with  directions  to  examine  the 
same,  and  to  put  him  at  such  studies  as  shall  be 
deemed  best,  and  with  a  tacit  acknowledgment  that 
the  teacher  is  the  one  who  can  and  ought  to  know 
and  judge  for  others — it  is  strange,  that  often  these 
persons,  on  learning  the  price  of  a  true  education, 
will,  at  the  moment,  change  their  intention  and  send 
the  pupil  where  the  educating  can  be  done  for  less  ! 
When  convinced  that  a  painter  is  the  artist  to  do 
them  upon  canvass  as  they  should  be  done,  these 
men  pay  the  price :  a  daub  from  an  inferior  artist, 
they  will  not  have  at  any  price — they  would  not  be 
paid  to  receive  such.  And  yet  these  same  persons 
will  choose  a  school  where  work  is  done  a  few  shil- 
lings or  even  pence  less  !  It  is  a  great  matter  that 
a  yard  of  canvass  be  spoiled  ! — it  is  nothing,  that  the 
mind  and  manners  of  a  child  should  be  ruined  ! 

A  school  is  sometimes  called  the  world  in  minia- 
ture. This  saying  is  true.  It  is  an  arena  for  the 
conflict  of  oj)posing  and  varying  interests  and  pas- 
sions.    Here  emulation  has  its  excitement ;  ambi- 


26 


CHAPTER    I. 


tion,  its  aim  ;  industry,  its  reward  ;  and  sloth,  its 
punishment.  Selfishness,  here,  leads  to  ungenerous 
and  dishonest  behavior ;  and  benevolence  here 
displays  its  spontaneous  and  disinterested  love.  In 
this  theatre  cowardice  conceals  its  tricks,  and 
chuckles  in  secret  at  its  mischief;  whilst  chivalry 
does  its  achievements  of  daring,  openly  violating 
and  apparently  defying  law,  and  yet  not  intending 
to  despise  authority. 

Badly  trained,  or  wholly  untrained,  at  home,  and 
with  no  domestic  pattern  of  excellence  for  imitation^ 
boys  are  too  often  cast,  a  species  of  incipient  savage 
and  ruffian,  into  a  school  community,  just  as  some- 
times into  the  wider  world,  with  a  last  hgpe  that 
novel  and  exciting  duties  and  pleasures,  and  other 
circumstances,  may  control  evil  passions,  guide  way- 
ward propensities  into  some  safe  path,  and  awaken 
the  dormant  sense  of  honor  and  virtue.  Hence? 
many  individuals,  thus  ungoverned  at  home  in  as 
many  separate  families  ;  undirected  into  any  path  of 
truth  or  virtue ;  their  corrupt  propensities  greatly 
developed  and  strengthened  by  indulgence ;  are  all 
congregated  into  a  single  family  to  be  converted,  or 
reformed,  and  disciplined,  and  governed,  by  one  man. 

What,  then,  shall  he  be  deemed  who  controls  and 
guides  this  mass  of  heterogeneous  materials  ?  who 
rewards  and  punishes  ?  who  turns  indolence  into  dil- 
igence, dishonor  into  honor  ?  who  out  of  nothing 
seems  to  produce  something  ?  And  all  this  not  in 
one  case,  but  many  ;  and  where  the  current  of  evil 
had  received  a  steady  direction  and  violent  impulse, 
from  long  years  of  parental  misrule  and  vice  ! 


THE    ARTIST  £7 

The  man  that  does  all  this,  is  the  teacher.  And 
that  persDn  concentrates  in  himself,  and  far  beyond 
the  conception  of  ignorance,  all  the  essential  quali- 
ties of  the  legislator,  the  judge,  the  advocate,  the 
jury,  the  executive.  And  in  him  all  are  tempered, 
and  adjusted  to  the  peculiarities  of  the  mass  as  a 
whole,  and  to  suit  the  ever-varying  shades  of  good 
and  evil  where  results  are  partly  accidental,  partly 
designed — partly  of  malice,  partly  of  mistaken  sport, 
partly  of  selfish  indifference ;  and  where  offenders 
vary  in  age  from  early  childhood  to  incipient  man- 
hood ;  and  where  some  are  tempters  and  others 
tempted  ;  and  where  the  punishment  suitable  for  one 
disposition  would  be  scorned  by  another,  or  crush 
forever  a  third  !  and  where,  govern  as  you  may, 
the  world  around,  not  merely  of  ignorant  and  spite- 
ful persons,  but  of  intelligent  men,  will  say  that  you 
have  governed  wrong  !  For  all  that  have  never 
governed  a  school,  know  usually  how  it  should  be 
governed,  better  than  the  experienced. 

In  view  of  the  difficulties  of  his  station,  well  may 
the  teacher,  adopting  the  language  of  an  Apostle 
exclaim — "  Who  is  sufficient  for  these  things  !"  He 
that  is  truly  what  the  competent  teacher  should  be, 
is,  in  proportion  to  his  degree  of  excellence,  so  far 
qualified  to  govern  the  world.  Many  a  man,  at  this 
moment  the  head  of  a  school,  and  occasionally  the 
sport  of  fools,  and  the  sneer  of  unwhipped  insolence, 
is  fit  to  be  their  master  and  teacher  in  legislation  and 
statesmanship,  as  well  as  in  morals,  literature,  and 
science. 

Were  it  the  fashion  for  the  men  of  schools,  and 


28  CHAPTER   I. 

the  men  of  theology,  to  come  down  from  their  lofty 
pinnacles  of  pure  atmosphere,  into  the  dirty  arena  of 
political  strife,  and  if  such  dared  to   fight  with  a 
demagogue's  weapons,  many  a  brainless   coxcomb 
would    slink   away  like  a  discomfited  cur  with  a 
drooping  and  trailing  tail.     But  "  strive  for   mas- 
teries," this  way,  they  may  not — they  cannot.     The 
moral  qualities  of  a  teacher  must  be  such  as  to  cause 
eternal  war  with  the  unholy  means  of  most  political 
contests.     Place,  however,  teachers  in  the  halls  of 
legislation,  on  the  bench  of  justice,  or  in  the  chair  of 
the    executive — where    their    disciples  and   pupils 
often    are — and,    place    them,   without    unworthy 
means,  by  which  cunning  unscrupulousness  works 
and  worms  through  filth  and  slime  up  to  defiled  and 
dishonored   office    and    station ;  and    an    order   of 
excellence  should    be  visible,  worthy  all  praise  and 
imitation. 

In  the  estimation  of  the  W'ise,  moral  virtues  out- 
weigh the  intellectual,  and  still  more  the  physical. 
What  has  the  nature  of  a  gift,  may  be  in  itself  beau- 
teous and  admit  many  useful  applications ;  yet  it  is 
less  praiseworthy  than  what  is  acquired  and  made 
one's  own  by  self-exertion.  The  grandeur  of  moral 
courage  is  everywhere  admired ;  and  the  moral 
hero  stands  his  own  monument.  But  separate  acts 
of  heroism  may  not  require  such  courage  and  vir- 
tue, as  the  tenor  of  a  life,  made  up  of  continuous 
acts,  unseen,  unrewarded  !  That  is  a  great  soul 
that  can  continue  courageous  in  the  way  of  any 
duty,  w^hen  the  forfeiture  of  his  daily  bread,  and  con- 
tempt and  persecution,  are  the  rewards  of  perSeve- 


THE    ARTIST.  OJj 

ranee.  *'  Greater  is  he  that  conquers  his  spirit,  tiian 
he  that  taketh  a  city,"  is  taught  by  an  inspired  pen- 
man. In  tiiis  greatness  the  teacher  is  eminent. 
Nor  is  iiis  sell-mastery  on  special  occasions,  when 
preparation  may  be  made,  and  when  important  and 
distinguished  witnesses  are  expected  ;  which  circum- 
stances of  excitement  enable  many  an  inferior  man^ 
proudly  for  once  or  twice  to  conquer  himself,  and 
'•  give  the  soft  answer  that  turneth  away  wrath."  But 
the  teacher's  contests  are  endless  !  The  war  of  life 
with  him  is  one  enduring  campaign  !  There  are  no 
witnesses — no  celebrity  ! — save  God  and  his  own 
conscience,  and  the  glory  of  the  great  day  ! 

Be  it  remembered,  how  the  anger  of  the  human 
breast  rises  up,  when  attempt  is  made  to  point  out 
faults ;  and  specially  at  rebuke,  when  the  monitor 
insists,  moreover,  that  the  faults  shall  be  amended. 
The  softest  voice,  the  blandest  manner,  the  truest 
disinterestedness,  will  not  always  secure  a  monitor 
from  the  hasty  expressions  of  petulance,  and  even 
from  occasional  ebullitions  of  wrath.  Wound  man's 
self-love  with  the  slightest  puncture — intimate  the 
blur  of  the  smallest  blemish  on  his  immaculate  vir- 
tue, or  the  least  abrasion  uj)on  the  smoothness  of 
its  polish — and  the  keen  sensibilities  of  the  pierced 
spirit  flash  forth  on  the  reddening  face  tlie  ilame  of 
a  deep  fire  within  !  Or  if  self-command  repress  the 
outbreaking,  the  fire  will  burn  with  worse  cankering 
of  the  feelings  towards  the  censor  morinn. 

But  that  censor  is  a  man  of  like  passions;  and 
when,  conscious  of  the  purity  of  his  motive,  and  the 
benevolence  of  his  intention,  and  the  duty  of  his 


30  ciiArj'Eii  I. 

admonishing,  he  is  met  with  frowns,  and  answered 
with  reproach,  is  it  ordinary  excellence  or  an  easy 
task  to  master  himself  and  avoid  "  sinning  with  his 
lips  ?"  The  man  that  can  habitually  thus  conquer 
his  own  spirit,  shall,  when  the  voice  of  the  trumpet 
summons  him  to  battle  in  a  just  cause,  and  to  face 
then  the  cannon's  crushing  tempest  of  iron  hail,  "in 
the  imminent  deadly  breach" — that  man  shall,  with 
a  resolved  soul  fixed  upon  his  compressed  lips,  and 
the  measured  step  of  the  warrior  march — Onward  ! 
He  had  faced  unmoved  the  frowns  of  indignant  and 
contemptuous  men,  and  stood  calm  amid  the  torrent 
of  bitter  scorn  from  burning  lips  ! — to  honorable 
and  sensitive  souls,  the  edge  of  drawn  sword  and 
point  of  levelled  spear  are  not  so  fearful. 

A  man  of  this  sort  is  the  teacher.  His  war  is  a 
daily  battle  !  and  a  war  without  excitement  and 
without  honor  !  He  must  ever  "  rebuke  and  exhort 
with  all  patience  and  forbearance." 

Beyond  the  daily  and  hourly  conflicts  of  the 
school-room,  is  yet  a  harder  conflict  with  a  man's 
rebellious  spirit — at  those  times  w^hen  parental 
weakness,  or  vanity,  or  prejudice,  or  supercilious, 
ness,  or  ingratitude,  or  all  combined,  lead  parents  to 
an  ill-advised  and  presumptuous  advice  and  rebuke 
of  the  master  himself ! — and  this,  where  there  was 
good  ground  to  expect  honor,  praise,  and  even  ap- 
plause !  Then  one's  own  burning  indignation  would 
burst  forth,  were  it  not  for  the  curb  of  iron,  and 
the  strong  holding  of  a  might  gained  by  long  prac- 
tice. As  it  is,  the  spirit  chafes  within  to  madness 
and  the  wise  man  is  near  to  the  furv  of  a  fool ! 


ril£    ARTIST.  31 

What  are  many  parents,  but  children,  themselves, 
of  the  larger  growth  ?  In  such,  the  evil  tendencies 
of  childhood  have  become  strengthened  and  invinci- 
ble ;  while  self-conceit  and  vanity  supply  the  place 
of  knowledge  and  skill.  How  should  these,  that 
never  learned  in  early  life,  learn  in  maturity  ?  They 
are  simply  fixed  in  their  ignorance  ;  and  although 
they  are  too  crooked  to  be  straightened,  they  yet 
need  a  master  to  control  themselves  as  well  as  their 
children.  Many  are,  indeed,  too  old  to  go  to 
school,  who  yet  need  a  master. 

Theories  of  education  are  plenty.  Every  place, 
noted  or  obscure,  abounds  with  lecturers  on  the  art 
of  teaching.  Sometimes  the  creatures  come  in 
swarms,  like  the  plagues  of  Egypt.  Sentiments  and 
notions  are,  therefore,  nearly  as  plenty  '•  as  the 
blackberries  ;"  and  the  whole  population  gather  for 
themselves — not  "grapes  and  figs,"  indeed,  for 
such  fruit  is  not  found  on  "thorns  and  thistles" — but 
something  very  like  "the  apples  of  Sodom!"  A 
school  made  up,  consequently,  of  very  diverse  ma- 
terials, is  commenced ;  and  the  unfortunate  master 
is  blessed  with  a  Proteus,  in  the  shape  of  a  public 
opinion,  to  help  him  do  the  educating !  Ilis  own 
theory,  and  all  his  experience  and  skill,  avail  nothing 
now  ;  he  must  obey  the  opinion  of  the  neighborhood  ; 
and  that  opinion  varies  with  the  arrival  of  every 
successive  lecturer,  who  gives  the  advice  gi-atis, 
and  sells  his  booksellers'  wares  for  money.  The 
spirit  of  traffic  adroitly  infuses  itself  everywhere, 
and  can  turn  all  things  into  gold.  "'  'J'he  blessings 
of  education  !"    is  a  catch-word  of  book-men,  even 


32 


CHAPTER    I. 


as   "  the   blessings   of    liberty  !"   is,   oi"  the   dema- 
gogues. 

What  artist  under  the  afflatus  would  endure 
schooling,  in  giving  his  thoughts  the  embodiment  of 
the  chisel  or  the  pencil !  Who  could  suffer  the  un- 
taught pertness  of  sciolists  to  guide  the  touch  of  the 
master  !  And  all  have  notions  about  painting,  and  poe- 
try, and  statuary,  and  music  :  all  would  dare  to  guide, 
if  the  studio  were  as  accessible  as  the  school-room. 
But  the  teacher  may  neither  cease  from  his  work 
because  of  his  disgust,  nor  repay  contumely  with 
scorn.  A  sacred  duty  to  God  and  man  ever  impels 
him  onward.  And  his  creations  must  be  from  materi- 
als not  passive,  but  rebellious  ;  not  inert,  but  restive. 

The  necessity  of  forbearance  on  the  part  of  the 
teacher  ends  not  here.  Be  he  ever  so  learned  and 
competent — ever  so  industrious  and  indefatigable — 
let  him  with  an  unselfish  spirit  aim  at  being  a  bene- 
factor, and  the  public  will  not  rarely  affect  to  patron- 
ize him  !  Alas  !  nominal  teachers  so  lower  the  dignity 
of  the  office,  as  to  speak,  in  addresses  from  the 
rostrum  and  the  press,  of  parents,  whose  sons  they 
are  creating — as  patrons  ! 

When  a  professional  teacher  works  with  a  grovel- 
ling soul,  and  estimates  the  value  of  his  school  by 
the  amount  of  the  quarter-moneys ;  when  he  sinks 
into  a  mere  workman  or  trader,  and  aims  simply  to 
give  the  money-worth,  then  may  he  talk  of  patrons 
and  of  patronage.  But  the  true  teacher  is  the  patron 
of  society.  He  can  do  without  the  world  ;  but  the 
world,  if  it  would  remain  free  and  civilized,  cannot 
do  without  the  teacher.     A  true  teacher  can  live, 


THE    ARTIST. 


33 


in  a  hundred  ways,  without  teaching — yes  !  and  hve 
better — perhaps  longer  ;  but  with  some  such,  there 
ever  rings  a  cry,  heard  by  some  in  a  still  nobler 
office — "  Wo  is  me,  if  I  teach  not !" 

Do  we  speak  of  patronizing  a  judge,  or  a  senator, 
or  a  minister  of  the  gospel  ?  or  even  a  lawyer  or  a 
physician  ?  Do  not  these  men,  if  true  men,  patronize 
society  ?  Could  society,  constituted  as  it  is,  of  the 
good  and  the  bad,  do  without  these  persons  ?  On 
the  same  principles,  it  is  utterly  wrong  to  talk  of 
patronizing  a  teacher.  He  pretends  not  to  indiffijr- 
ence  respecting  the  pecuniary  reward  of  his  toil. 
He  well  earns,  and  has  a  right  to  it ;  but  the  world 
should  rejoice  that  he  consents  to  labor  at  all,  and 
pay  him  with  gratitude. 

Let  no  one,  then,  insult  our  profession,  by  aflect- 
ing  to  be  a  patron  ;  and  let  no  teacher  meanly  lower 
the  loftiness  of  its  grandeur  by  a  sycophantic  fond- 
ling in  miscalling  persons  who  are  deeply  debtors 
to  his  labor  and  skill,  for  the  excellence  of  their 
children. 

The  teacher  must  stand  in  place  of  a  parent  and 
a  minister  of  the  gospel. 

Perhaps,  all  things  being  equal,  a  home  education 
may  be  better  than  a  public  one.  Still,  under  the 
most  i'avorable  circumstances,  it  admits  a  question 
whether  any  education  can  be  complete  that  has,  in 
no  degree,  ever  been  public.  Reasons,  more  at  large, 
will  be  assigned  hereafter  to  show  that,  were  it  pos- 
sible, it  yet  would  not  be  advisable  to  abolish  public 
schools,  nor  to  make  domestic  education  so  exdu- 


34 


CHAPTER    I. 


sive  as  to  confine  it  to  separate  and  individual 
families. 

Two  things  are  certain :  Domestic  education,  for 
the  immense  majority  of  children,  is  an  utter  impossi- 
bility: if  these  were  not  educated  in  associate  and 
public  schools,  they  must  remain  uneducated.  And, 
again,  in  cases  almost  countless,  children  are,  in  all 
respects,  safer  in  a  school  only  moderately  well  dis- 
ciplined, than  with  their  own  parents.  Not  only  are 
precept,  example,  restraint,  discipline,  all  absent  in 
very  many  families,  but  the  opposite  of  these  all 
abound  ;  and  the  children  can  scarcely  be  in  a  worse 
school  than  at  home.  It  is  a  great  blessing  another 
school  can  be  found ;  and  a  great  privilege  for  the 
majority  of  children  to  be  sent  to  a  teacher  other 
than  the  parents. 

Doubt  may,  indeed,  arise  whether  children  from 
such  families  should  be  received  by  a  teacher.  But, 
first,  let  the  reader  consider  the  deplorable  state  of 
society  if  all  unmannered  and  ill-disciplined  children 
were  refused  ;  and  next,  let  him  be  told,  if  ignorant 
of  the  fact,  that  objectionable  pupils  do  not  belong 
wholly  to  what  are  deemed  by  many  the  poorer,  or 
inferior  classes.  Experience  tells  a  different  story. 
Very  generally  the  most  unexceptionable  pupils 
come  from  families  inferior  in  walk,  fashion,  and 
station,  and  not  rarely  from  families  only  a  step  or 
two  removed  from  poverty.  The  indulged  pet  of 
affluence  is  always  the  sorest  thorn  to  a  teacher's 
rest,  and  tests  his  passive  qualities  to  their  utmost 
tension. 

The  polish  from  becoming  and  costly  dress,  and  from 


THE    ARTIST.  35 

graceful  exterior,  may  momentarily  cheat  even  ex- 
perienced persons  into  a  hope  that  the  beauty  ^vith- 
out  indicates  a  still  greater  beauty  within ;  but  the 
illusion  is  soon  dispelled  when  the  pressure  of  study 
and  law  and  implicit  obedience  is  laid,  like  a  yoke, 
upon  the  beauteous  neck ;  it  immediately  galls  the 
untamed  child,  first  into  peevishness,  and  then  into 
open  rebellion. 

Good  and  bad,  and  from  families  differing  in  rank^ 
station  and  wealth,  are,  of  necessity,  usually  com- 
prised in  the  same  school.  The  most  guarded  cau- 
tion, and  the  nicest  discrimination,  and  the  most  re- 
solute determination,  cannot  have  "  a  select  school," 
in  its  best  sense — a  moral  school.  A  "  select  school," 
as  to  numbers,  is  possible  anywhere ;  a  "  select 
school"  of  children,  distinguished  by  certain  supe- 
riority of  dress  and  fashionable  manners,  may  exist, 
where  a  monied  aristocracy  is  dominant,  or  preva- 
lent ;  but  a  school  of  the  perfectly  good  is  impossi- 
ble. The  name  is  innocently  adopted  by  many  wor- 
thy teachers  ;  but  it  is  a  misnomer.  If  it  be  con- 
sidered as  a  school  for  a  few,  or  possibly,  a  school 
where  some  extraordinary  rigor  will  be  used  to  keep 
out  the  uncommonly  bad,  the  name  may  be  toler- 
ated ;  but  if  it  means  to  teach  that  such  schools  arc 
necessarily  purer  in  morals  than  larger  schools,  and 
schools  at  less  prices,  it  is  an  error;  and  sometimes 
it  is  impertinence,  falsehood  and  arrogance. 

Inquiry  would  discover  that  whoever  can  pay  the 
high  price,  is  in  general  select  enough  for  ''  the  se- 
lect school." 

The  less   ffood   are  not  to  l)e  excluded  from  the 


36 


CHAPTER    I. 


advantages  of  moral  and  intellectual  schooling. 
Even  the  vicious  may  be  taught  and  reformed.  If 
none  but  the  good  and  worthy  are  to  be  taught  in 
schools — wo  to  the  purity  and  the  stability  of  civil- 
ized society !  Schools,  then,  are  an  unavoidable  ne- 
cessity, as  well  as  a  national  blessing.  Whoever, 
therefore,  means  to  avail  himself  of  the  moral  and 
other  advantages  of  schools,  must  take  such  with  an 
alloy  of  some  evil.  It  is  a  condition  of  civilization, 
that  we  must  receive  in  many  things  good  and  bad 
united  ;  and  that  we  must  benefit  our  neighbors,  at 
the  hazard  even  of  some  injury  to  ourselves.  We 
may  not  always  flee  from  a  sickly  neighborhood. 
We  must  sometimes  attend  the  diseased  and  the  dy- 
ing, at  the  hazard  of  infection  to  ourselves.  And  so 
we  are  not  always  at  liberty  to  educate  our  children 
privately,  if  without  us,  public  schools  cannot  be  sus- 
tained, and  our  neighbors'  children  are,  in  conse- 
quence, deprived  of  education  both  domestic  and 
associate. 

We  may  not,  of  choice,  seek  infection  either  phy- 
sical or  moral ;  but  we  must  not,  in  search  of  unat- 
tainable perfection,  retire  from  "the  men  of  the 
world."  Far  from  us  to  say  that,  generally  speak- 
ing, parents  may  not,  if  they  prefer  it,  educate  their 
children  entirely  at  home,  because  they  may,  in  other 
ways  at  the  same  time,  aid  in  supporting  other 
schools ;  but  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  children, 
sedulously  kept  from  all  contact  with  evil  by  a  spe- 
cies of  monastic  home  education,  will  firmly  and 
successflilly  stem  a  deep  and  wide  current  of  evil 
pouring  for  the  first,  and  with  an  unknown  and  un- 


THE    ARTIST.  ^7 

conjectured  strength,  full  against  the  inexperienced 
boy  sent  forth  from  the  parental  or  domestic  study- 
room. 

Special  reasons  exist  for  making  daughters  ex- 
ceptions to  the  preceding  remarks.  Where  possible 
let  such  always  be  educated  at  home,  or  near  home. 
And  yet,  very  often,  all  the  reasons  in  favor  of  public 
and  associate  education  for  the  one  sex,  apply  in  full 
force  to  the  other. 

These  remarks  made,  it  is  manifest  that  the  teacher 
must  sustain  the  office  of  a  parent,  and  of  a  minister 
of  the  gospel.  All  the  prominent  duties  of  these 
offices  pertain  to  his.  The  pupils  must  be  regarded 
as  his  children,  and,  in  some  respects,  as  parishion- 
ers. Times  are,  when  he  must  preach  to  them,  as 
one  watching  for  their  souls,  and  held  to  render  an 
account.  He  must  warn,  rebuke,  entreat ;  he  must 
pray  with  his  pupils  in  public  ;  he  must  pray  for 
them  in  private  ;  he  must  love  them  ;  he  must  re- 
joice with  their  joy,  and  mourn  with  their  grief. 
Thus  acting,  he  will  soon  find  that  teaching  is  a  holy 
vocation  ;  that  he  may  not,  for  light  reasons,  forsake 
it;  and  that,  if  God  would  sustain  him  miraculously, 
he  is  bound  to  teach,  as  others  are  to  preach,  "with- 
out money  and  without  price." 

The  spirit  of  the  age,  in  its  blindness,  finds  analo- 
gies where  there  arc  none  ;  and  hence,  in  its  zeal 
for  the  division  of  labor,  has  in  many  places  sepa- 
rated the  intellectual  and  the  moral.  The  latter  it 
assigns  to  the  parent ;  the  former,  to  the  teacher. 
How  the  moral  is  to  be  done  in  education,  when  pa- 
rents themselves  have  no  morals,  and  where  the 
3 


38  CHAPTER  I. 

pupils  never  attend  any  place  of  worship,  and  are 
under  no  pastoral  guidance,  Protestant  or  Catholic,  we 
are  not  informed.  Some,  most  zealous  for  this  curious 
divorce  of  mental  trainings,  are  secretly  indifferent  as 
to  the  answer.  The  word  moral,  with  these,  is  a 
mere  catch-word.  If  the  schooling  be  done  accord- 
ing to  law,  morality  may  take  care  of  itself.  Knowl- 
edge, with  them,  and  knowledge  alone,  is  power 
enough  for  this  life.  The  life  to  come  is  a  dreadful 
necessity  !  It  is  only  a  hated  end  of  this  life  !  Any 
enactment,  therefore,  of  a  legislature,  or  any  sove- 
reignty of  a  wicked  public  opinion,  that  shall  make 
the  intellectual  culture  the  main  or  only  culture  of 
schools,  is  hugged  to  the  bosoms  of  these  pitiable 
men  as  a  choice  blessing. 

Some,  however,  who  advocate  this  unnatural  di- 
vorce, are  misled  by  the  adroit  craftiness  of  the 
others  ;  and  are  led  along,  under  this  and  that  pre- 
text, as  if  by  a  string  around  their  necks,  silly  sheep 
or  bleating  calves,  to  the  butcher's  knife.  The  nomi- 
nal Christians,  as  well  as  the  genuine  Christians,  all 
hold  that  this  republic  cannot  continue  without  a 
due  admixture  of  morality  and  religion  with  our 
knowledge ;  and  he,  therefore,  who  does  anything 
to  divorce  the  intellectual  and  moral  trainings,  acts 
absurdly.  Many  a  man  acts  traitorously.  The 
State  ought  to  care  for  both  alike.  Public  opinion 
that  is  against  religious  training  in  schools,  is  a 
usurper,  and  not  a  legitimate  king.  It  deserves  not 
a  moment's  regard.     It  is  worthy  indignant  scorn. 

A  man,  it  is  said,  may  be  shorn  as  to  his  chin,  and 
its  adjacents,  by  a  happy  division  of  labor,  if  one 


THE    ARTIST. 


39 

skilful  knight  of  the  curled  pole  will  keep  a  shop  for 
lathering,  and  a  brother  knight,  exactly  opposite,  a 
shop  for  the  razor  application — although,  where  we 
trust  our  throats  to  the  edge  of  a  keen  blade,  we 
may  safely  trust  them  to  a  foam  of  soap  and  water  ! 

Equally  sapient  the  division  of  the  mind  between 
the  operators.  That  is  as  much  a  unit  as  the  beard; 
and  he  that  may  be  safely  trusted  to  do  on  it  the 
one  operation,  may  be  trusted  to  do  the  other.  An 
adroit  intellectual  operator  can,  in  a  thousand  ways, 
operate  morally  on  the  mind,  if  he  see  fit ;  in  other 
words,  he  can  lather  and  shave  both,  even  where 
he  affects  to  keep  shop  for  one  operation  only. 

The  man  who  pretends  to  teach,  and  basely  agrees 
to  be  silent  as  to  religion  and  morals,  is,  in  the  first 
place,  not  the  most  fit  to  teach  even  intellectually  ; 
and  he  is  not  safe,  since,  if  he  teach  not  religion,  he 
may  infidelity ! 

Sectarianism  is  tio^  taught  in  schools;  but,  if  it 
were,  vastly  better  is  any  sectarianism  than  infidel- 
ity, or  nothingism.  If  a  boy  hns  no  creed  of  his 
own,  let  him  adopt  tiiat  of  his  master.  And  if  the 
master  may  not  teach  the  law  of  God,  let  him  not 
dare  to  teach  at  all  ;  either  let  him  wholly  abandon 
his  office,  or,  while  the  persecution  lasts,  "flee  into 
another  city." 

Turn  we,  now,  to  the  teacher  as  an  intellectual 
man.  If  highly  cultivated  mind,  and  the  most  ex- 
tensive learning  in  all  departments  of  literature  and 
science,  bestow  dignity,  what  class  of  persons  is 
more  to  be  revered  than  teachers  ?  Not  rarely  they 
are  endowed  with  the  noblest  genius,  and  the  best 


40  CHAPTKU    I. 

talents  ;  and  their  excellencies  find  ample  scope  in 
the  school-room.  But,  that  very  great  learning  must 
be  acquired  by  many  teachers,  and  may  be  by  most, 
is  plain  enough  to  those  who  understand  the  variety 
and  perfection  always  arising  from  repeated  excur- 
sions into  literary  fields,  and  endless  practice  in 
using  what  is  known. 

Supreme  excellence,  it  is  true,  is  usually  confined 
to  a  few  branches,  or  even  one  branch  of  learning. 
Yet,  this  branch  is  itself  a  host.  It  is  perfect  knowl- 
edge and  adroit  use  of  languages,  or  mathematics, 
or  philosophy,  or  logic ;  or,  more  frequently,  per- 
fect knowledge  and  skill  in  all  these !  Here  the 
teacher  pushes  [his  minutest  inquiries  to  the  ultima 
thule  !  here  has  he,  not  dim  and  obscure  vision,  but 
accurate  perception !  Here  he  is  at  home,  where 
other  scholars  are  comparatively  ill  at  ease  !  And 
when  it  is  considered,  that  these  subjects  are  princi- 
ples and  powers,  and  not  mere  knowledges  and  facts 
aggregated,  and  yet  disconnected,  the  mind  of  the 
teacher  must  be  a  store-house  of  agencies  and  instru- 
ments, with  skill  to  use  any  or  all  in  a  thousand 
ways  beyond  the  applications  requisite  in  a  school- 
room. Who  is  ignorant,  however,  of  the  commune 
vinculum,,  linking  together  all  branches  of  learning? 
The  man  that  gets  fair  hold  of  one  ring  in  the  won- 
derous  chain  shall  soon  learn  to  pull  forth  and  stretch 
out  the  whole ! 

Specially  are  many  studies  cognate — being  united 
by  a  sort  of  cousin-german  relationship.  An  intro- 
duction to  one  of  the  family  leads  to  an  easy  acquaint- 
ance with  the  rest.     To  how  many  Oriental  cousins 


THE    ARTIST.  aI 

will  not  Hebrew  introduce  its  familiars  ?  lie  that 
is  intimate  with  Latin  and  Greek,  may  very  readily 
be  intimate  with  a  dozen  modern  languages,  and 
have  a  speaking  acquaintance  with  another  dozen. 
The  abstract  mathematician  may  wind  his  way  with 
a  sure  thread  through  tlie  mazy  labyrinths  of  me- 
chanics, and  not  lose  liis  balance  on  the  dizzy 
heights  of  astronomy. 

All  this  we  see  daily  in  music.  One  class  of  in- 
struments renders  easy  the  others  of  that  class  ;  a 
knowledge  of  any  keyed  or  stringed  instrument,  or 
of  any  wind-instrument,  helps  a  person  to  play  seve- 
ral analogous  instruments.  Persons  are  found  who 
play  perfectly  on  one  or  two  instruments,  and  not 
badly  on  twenty  others  ! 

Teachers  are  not  deficient  in  the  esprit  dii  corps. 
Hence,  while  many  are  the  questions  asked  by  "  fools," 
that  wise  men  cannot  answer,  yet  the  willingness 
to  answer  such  as  the  wise  may,  both  increases  the 
ability  of  answering,  and  makes  the  vulgar  "  won- 
der that  one  small  head  should  contain  so  much !" 

Thus  far,  the  remarks  have  tended  to  show  what 
teachers  may  be — nay,  what,  in  the  nature  of  the 
case,  they  must  become.  That  they  should  be  such 
persons  is  desirable.  The  question  is,  are  teachers 
such  men  ?  Many  men,  of  sight  and  fact,  may  be 
disposed  to  ask,  "  whether  all  this  is  not  a  teacher's 
enthusiasm ;  and  whether  he  resembles  not  the 
worthy  artisans  in  the  besieged  city,  who  severally 
supposed  *  brick,  leather,  and  iron,'  to  be  separately 
the  best  defence  for  the  walls?" 

Happy  for  the  world  that  any  class,  or  any  indi- 


42  CHAPTER   1. 

vidual  of  a  class,  aims  high.  Happy  if  any  strive 
to  form  themselves  after  the  model  of  a  fair  picture 
even  if  the  loftiest  height  be  not  attained,  and  mark- 
ed deficiencies  be  found  in  the  copy.  But,  could 
we  evoke  from  their  classic  shades,  their  Parnassean 
heights,  and  their  academic  groves,  the  mighty  mas- 
ters of  the  Teaching  Art,  a  convocation  would  as- 
semble such  as  earth  never  saw  ! 

In  that  wonderous  assembly,  kings  of  the  earth 
would  themselves  be  awed,  before  a  sublimer  maj- 
esty, and  stand  uncovered  in  a' more  august  pres- 
ence !  Sages  of  the  world,  venerable  with  the  pon- 
derous lore  of  hoary  antiquity,  and  severe  in  the 
gravity  of  all  philosophy,  and  grand  in  the  ineffable 
dignity  of  thought,  would  there  be  seated  in  the  sol- 
emn sanctity  of  gods,  a  second  Roman  Senate,  to 
strike  beholders  with  awe  !  Ther«  would  sit  mas- 
ters in  all  departments  of  science  and  literature  ! 
Men  would  be  there,  who,  in  the  depth  of  retirement, 
had  prepared  law  for  the  government  of  the  world  ! 
— men,  who  had  abstracted  and  condensed  principles 
for  all  that  is  startling  in  discovery,  admirable  in 
invention,  useful  in  practice  ! — authors,  whose  talents 
and  rare  genius  had  crowded  libraries  with  tomes 
on  all  profound  metaphysics  and  abstract  thought, 
and  all  morals  ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  had  playfully 
scattered  "  thoughts  that  breathe,  and  words  that 
burn,"  over  the  leaves  of  ever-changing  periodicals  ! 
and  who,  stooping  from  their  loftiness,  and  staying 
in  a  flight  through  purer  air,  had  furnished  the 
school-room  with  books,  by  which  children  and 
youths  could  be  trained  in  knowledge  and  religion  ! 


TIJK    ARTIbT. 


43 


Behold  there,  also,  men,  the  parents  o(  legislation ! 
whose  theories  have  been  reduced  to  practice  by 
their  disciples,  mighty  statesmen  and  lawyers  !  Be- 
hold there,  in  short,  men  to  whom  the  world  owes 
nearly  all  valuable  and  lasting  in  sciences,  arts,  lite- 
rature, law,  medicine,  divinity,  war — in  all  things  ! 

The  very  names  of  some  teachers  are  volumes  : — 
Socrates,  Plato — Reed,  Stewart — Chalmers  !  Our 
page  could  be  crowded  with  a  rich  catalogue  of 
worthies,  who,  during  life,  or  a  part  of  life,  were 
teachers — Dionysius,  Philippe  of  France,  Southard, 
a  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Parr,  Valpy,  Arnold,  Nott, 
Alexander,  Miller,  Wayland,  McVean !  Add  the 
distinguished  women,  such  as  Sigourney,  Kirkland, 
Willard,  and  many  beside:  "Sed  prata  biberint 
claudite  rivos  !" 

That  persons  more  or  less  incompetent  and  un- 
worthy, may  be  found  in  every  department  of  teach- 
ing, from  the  meanest  hedge-school  to  the  noblest 
university,  is  true.  It  is  also  true  that  many  crowd 
into  the  humbler  walks  of  the  profession,  because 
they  can  do  nothing  else ;  some,  too,  out  of  indo- 
lence, supposing  a  few  shillings  can  be  there  picked 
up  without  bodily  labor ;  some  from  worse  motives. 
But  medicine  has  its  quacks,  law  its  pettifoggers, 
divinity  its  fanatics,  and  teaching  has  its  pedagogues. 
Such  fungi  and  poisonous  accretions,  black  and  foe- 
tid, are  not,  however,  the  stately  tree  itself  to  which 
they  adhere.  They  may,  indeed,  for  a  while  con- 
ceal the  tree  ;  but  when  they  are  scraped  away  and 
removed,  the  beauteous  symmetry  of  the  columnar 
trunk  appears. 


44 


CHAPTER    I. 


Be  it  remembered — weeds  spring  and  flourish 
only  in  suitable  and  neglected  soil.  In  a  truly  en- 
lightened, liberal,  benevolent,  discriminating  com- 
munity, quaclfery  could  not  live !  "  Like  people, 
like  priest,'' applies  to  teachers  as  w^ell  as  to  parsons; 
and  "  The  poor  pay,  and  the  poor  preach,"  are  com- 
rades in  teaching  as  in  divinity.  When  a  society 
retails  hackneyed  jests  and  worn  witticisms  at  the 
expense  of  an  honorable  profession,  they  are  either 
too  deplorably  ignorant  to  know  good  teachers  ex- 
ist, or  too  miserly  to  pay  their  just  price.  The  latter 
is  more  common — the  former  not  infrequent. 

But  while  blur  and  blotch  deface  the  profession, 
and  more  especially  in  the  inferior  grades,  it  is  hap- 
pily true,  that  in  those  grades  are  many  men  of  no- 
blest genius  and  talent.  Men  are  there  who,  after 
a  severe  and  laborious  apprenticeship,  shall  one  day 
stand  forth  pillars  and  columns  of  matchless  excel- 
lence and  grandeur.  Let  them  bide  their  time. 
Their  light  may  now  be  small,  but  it  is  true  and 
certain  ;  and  at  length  it  shall  burn  a  sun  in  the  moral 
and  intellectual  firmament.  Be  assured  that  they 
**' shall  reap  if  they  faint  not." 

In  no  profession  is  rigorous  servitude  in  early  life 
so  indispensable  to  the  honor  and  influence  of  mid- 
dle life  and  old  age,  as  in  this  ;  and  the  very  fact  of 
long  years  spent  in  its  many  toils,  is  alone  proof  in- 
controvertible of  a  superior  soul  !  The  dishonest, 
the  timid,  the  untalented,  the  selfish,  fall  away.  The 
prize  here  is  too  spiritual,  too  distant,  too  lofty  to 
keep  their  mean  hearts  always  moved,  and  their 
ambition  ever  strained.  Bid  them  pass  into  the  herd  ; 


THE    ARTIST. 


45 


why  should  they  aspire  to  govern,  who  are  fit  only 
to  serve  ? 

Concentrating  all  that  has  been  advanced,  and 
allowing  the  whole  to  rest  upon  the  balance,  the 
profession  of  teaching,  both  as  a  science  and  an  art, 
must,  in  importance,  grandeur  and  dignity,  weigh, 
with  equal  poise,  against  any  other  profession  in  the 
opposite  scale,  while  it  will  easily  outweigh  many, 
either  separate  or  united.     It  challenges  the  trial. 


CHAPTER    II. 


THE    SCIENCE,    OR    THE    END    OF    TEACHING. 

Negative  definition  is  often  convenient.  Some- 
times it  is  necessary,  and  even  required  by  courtesy 
and  honor.  Men  may  join  us  in  a  journey  towards 
a  common  point,  who  would  have  either  travelled 
alone  or  remained  at  home,  had  it  been  known  that 
our  intended  route  did  not  pass  through  certain  well- 
beaten  or  flowery  ways.  And  not  rarely,  persons 
will  continue  searching  for  what  is  wanted,  where 
it  is  not  to  be  found,  unless  explicitly  told  that  the 
thing  is  not  there.  The  author  and  the  reader  may 
agree  in  much,  but  yet  they  may  disagree  in  more  ; 
and  that  in  which  they  disagree,  may  be  so  essential 
to  their  good  and  agreeable  companionship,  as  to 
render  it  important  to  be  the  first  thing  known. 

From  such  and  similar  considerations,  we  shall 
first  say,  what  is  not  the  end  of  teaching.  The  end 
is  not  to  impart  knowledge  ;  it  is  not  to  fit  one  to 
make  money ;  it  is  not  to  constitute  a  practical  man  ; 
it  is  not  to  fit  a  person  for  any  one  special  trade,  art, 
office,  or  profession. 

Here  is  an  open    avowal   of  rank  heterodoxy  ! 


THE  SCIENCE,  OR  THE  END  OF  TEACHING.  47 

Perhaps,  however,  after  tliis  candid  denial  of  all 
that  the  vast  majority  deem  to  be  education,  some 
curiosity  may  have  been  created  to  know  what  else 
education  can  be.  The  author  and  his  reader  may 
yet  agree. 

The  test  of  most  things  is  the  Cui  bono  ?  It  is  ap- 
plied, not  to  plans  of  education  only,  but  to  the  very 
erection  of  school-houses,  academies  and  colleges. 
Such  find  no  favor  in  places,  till  their  existence  can 
be  demonstrated  to  aid  the  value  of  surrounding 
property. 

As  to  logic,  metaphysic,  language,  and  many  ab- 
struse topics,  needed  as  discipline,  the  multitude  say  of 
them,  as  Falstaflf  of  honor — "  Can  they  set  a  leg  ? 
no  :  then  I'll  none  of  them." 

This  selfish  spirit  separates  the  practical  from  the 
abstract,  as  if  the  latter  were  not  the  parent  of  the 
former  !  The  selfish,  however,  live  by  sight,  and 
therefore  by  works,  yet  not  their  own — the  works 
belong  too  thers.  But  they  despise  what  is  not  seen  ;. 
and  they  can  see  nothing  except  the  showy,  the 
active,  the  bustling,  the  noisy. 

Whence  comes  the  light  of  the  practical,  by 
which  they  see  and  work  ?  It  comes  from  the  spec- 
ulative. The  thinkers  lay  out  the  work  for  the 
doers.  These  servants  are,  indeed,  insolent  enough 
tosneer  at  the  comparative  poverty  of  their  masters  ; 
for  the  practical  imagine  the  life  to  consist  in  the 
abundance  of  possessions,  and  they  cannot  under- 
stand that  the  speculative  may  prefer  the  refined 
and  absorbing  delights  of  an  abstract  world,  to 
money-making,  money-spending,  or  money-hoarding 


48 


CHAPTER    II. 


— main  pleasures  of  the  gross  and  merely  active. 
And  yet,  when  accident  or  experiment  sends  down 
from  his  height,  occasionally,  a  well-disciplined  spec- 
ulative man,  to  apply  his  own  rules,  such  an  one, 
after  the  slight  errors  almost  inseparable  from  the 
awkwardness  of  first  attempts  at  practice  are  cor- 
rected, such  an  one  can  contend  always  the  best  in 
the  arena,  and  carry  away  prizes  from  hosts  of  or- 
dinary competitors. 

The  abstract  can  be  without  the  practical;  but 
the  practical  cannot  be  without  the  abstract.  When 
sun-light  lingers  after  the  sun  itself  has  sunk  below 
the  horizon,  while  we  rejoice  in  the  farewell  rays,  it 
would  be  folly  to  say — "  This  light  is  sufficient ; 
why  wish  a  sun?"  It  is  equally  absuid  to  say — 
"  Practice  is  the  thing ;  what  is  the  use  of  specu- 
lation ?" 

Time  was  when  speculative  philosophy  may  have 
despised  practice.  Now  science  keeps  an  open 
house,  and  with  regal  munificence  dispenses  favors 
to  all  comers  ; — magic  wands,  elixirs  of  life,  and  phi- 
losopher's stones  !  To  suit  the  impatience  and  im- 
pertinence of  a  money-loving  and  labor-saving  age, 
science  has  even  turned  quack  ;  and  extracting  the 
quintessence  of  all  subjects,  she  has  put  up  morals* 
physics,  politics,  literature,  yea,  all  things,  in  con- 
venient and  portable  forms  labelled  with  suitable 
directions,  so  that  anybody,  though  a  mere  child,  by 
duly  swallowing  the  distilled  and  filtered  condensa- 
tion, shall  in  an  incredibly  short  time  know  vastly 
more  than  his  grandmother  !  Alas  !  the  selfish  pa- 
tients, or  recipients  of  knowledge  and  wisdom   by 


THE  SCIENCE,  OR  THE  END  OK  TEACHLNU.  49 

the  patent  process,  when  brim  full,  bray  and  kick  at 
their  doctors — they  evidently  deem  themselves  full- 
grown  asses  ! 

For  a  time,  when  the  world  began  to  roll  in  maj- 
esty over  levelled  mountains  and  elevated  valleys, 
annihilating  time  and  space,  it  was  natural  and  easy 
to  glide  into  mistake,  by  analogy.  We  transferred 
to  the  mind  what  belonged  to  the  body  ;  and  hence 
supposed  that  the  general  mind  was  moving  faster 
than  at  any  former  period.  Some,  too,  who  could 
have  sneered  at  Fulton  and  other  speculative  men, 
as  mere  thinkers,  began  to  suppose  themselves  actu- 
ally flying,  and  seemed  to  leave  the  philosophers 
themselves  away  behind  in  a  hazy  distance  !  Many 
moved  with  noise  and  thunder,  and  thought  they 
were  in  the  march  of  mind !  but  alas  !  they  were 
only  marking  time  ! — stirring,  yet  not  advancing  ! 

Practice,  so  improperly  separated  and  unduly 
honored,  was  naturally  followed  by  many  and  radi- 
cal errors  in  elementary  education,  both  in  the 
means  and  the  end.  For,  if  the  practical  is  the 
main  thing,  and  if  practical  purposes  are  countless, 
then  must  our  training  refer  not  only  to  practice  in 
general,  but  to  the  separate  ways  and  means  by 
which  a  living  is  made,  wealth  sought,  honor  cov- 
eted, or  pleasure  expected. 

Hence  what  wonderous  and  sudden  growth  over 
all  Alleghania  of  school  plans  and  systems  ! — the 
analytical,  the  synthetical,  the  inductive,  the  pro- 
ductive, the  American,  the  North  American,  the 
South  American,  the  Whole  Continental  American  ! 
It  was  equal  to  a  shower  of  infant  frogs  !     Schools 


50  CHAPTER   II. 

too  became  nurseries  ;  and  children  fed  on  hashes, 
and  minced  meat  of  potent  essence,  composed  of 
travels  real  and  imaginary,  and  all  history  past, 
present,  and  future,  bloated  out  under  the  new  fat- 
tening process,  in  a  few  months,  to  the  requisite 
practical  dimensions  ! 

Behold,  too,  the  school-books  of  a  mere  practical 
age.  Surely  "  of  making  books  there  is  no  end  !" 
They  are,  indeed,  made,  not  written  !  Booksellers, 
if  they  would  take  the  time,  need  not  pay  for  the 
jobs  ;  but  by  the  division  of  labor,  much  and  every 
way,  is  gained.  Systems  and  books  are  truly^pro- 
ductive  !  Happy  era !  two  boys  may  trade  the 
same  jacket  between  them,  till  each  shall  gain  five 
dollars  !  The  same  book-stuff  may  be  hashed  and 
cooked  in  a  dozen  different  ways  : — pictures  now  at 
the  top  of  a  page,  and  questions  at  the  bottom  ! — 
then,  pictures  and  questions  reversed  ! — then,  pic- 
tures in  the  middle,  surrounded  by  a  frame  of  crab- 
bed-looking questions  in  small  type!  Wonderful 
variety  ! — it  furnishes  little  and  big  potatoes  to-day, 
and  to-morrow,  hig  and  little  potatoes  ! 

And  what  benevolent  regard  for  the  intellectual 
shallowness  of  pupils  and  teachers  ! — in  minute 
directions  when,  and  how,  and  how  often,  lectures 
are  to  be  taken! — in  tender  appellations  of  the  pupil, 
and  the  coaxing  addresses  and  cheer-ups,  as  he  ap- 
proaches a  little  up-hill  pulling,  and  the  winning 
smile  of  approbation,  as  a  sugar-plum  is  bestowed  to 
reward  the  toil  ! — in  the  ingenious  machinery  for 
doing  the  literary,  by  which  a  clever  boy  puts  in 
some  words  and  out  comes  an  essay,  as  easily  as 


THE  SCIENCE,   OH  THE  END   OF  TEACHING.  gj 

you  would  make  a  gridiron  ! — and  lastly,  for  fear 
the  shallows  of  subjects  may  possibly  be  too  deep, 
in  that  exuberant  love  that  furnishes  peddling  school- 
masters with  keys. 

Man  of  abstraction  !  put  forth  a  work  leading  up- 
ward to  the  heights,  or  downward  to  the  depths  of 
a  subject,  and  along  its  length  and  breadth.  Hark  ! 
from  the  "  down-east "  is  a  cry  1  and  it  is  echoed  to 
the  "  far-west !" — ;"  Too  difficult  for  beginners — too 
speculative  for  practice — too  aristocratic  for  repub- 
licans— too  dear  for  the  peopled  Behold  !  then,  in 
due  season,  and  almost  simultaneously,  forth  come  a 
score  or  two  of  convenient,  nice,  portable,  cheap 
abridgments  ! — and  these,  by  other  i)lunderers,  in 
turn,  re-abridged,  and  re-arranged,  or  rc-pictured, 
or  done  with  new  type,  or  in  patent  binding,  or  with 
some  adroit  trick  to  elude  injunction,  till  the  thing 
suits  the  latitude  of  every  college,  academy,  com- 
mon school,  normal  and  abnormal,  infant  and  adoles- 
cent, high,  low,  and  middle,  in  the  republic  ! 

Learned  and  competent  teachers  there  are  ;  yet 
not  rarely  does  a  self-styled  master  become  tagged 
to  a  well-bepuffed  system,  and  fly  along  with  it  as 
bob-tail  to  kite.  Another  buys  a  right  to  administei 
books  or  lessons  from  one  to  six  ;  and  he  will  re- 
fund the  money,  if  the  doses  kill  and  do  not  cure — 
referring,  however,  failure  to  the  lack  of  capacity 
in  the  patient,  and  not  to  any  impotency  in  the  sys- 
tem. Professors  multiply  like  doctors  of  divinity  ; 
because  the  wisdom  of  the  times,  to  prevent  the 
overstocking  of  any  one  profession,  multiplies  the 
professions  themselves,  to  keep    pace   with   the  in- 


g2  CHAPTER   II. 

creased  demand ;  and  in  return,  these  professors  from 
the  people's  college  transmute  men  into  philosophers 
and  mechanicians,  by  virtue  of  set  phrases,  subtle 
gases,  and  mechanical  powers. 

The  practical,  working  spirit,  is  indignant  at  the 
idleness  of  mute  vowels  and  dronish  consonants, 
and  hates  the  characters  that  monopolize  a  dozen 
sounds.  Hence  it  has  a  new  patriotic  and  demo- 
cratic alphabet,  (or  perhaps  alphabets,)  to  spell 
things  as  they  sound,  and  fix  shadows  forever ;  so 
that  the  **  monooments  "  of  its  glory  shall  look  and 
sound  the  same  until  the  end  of  time  !  This  figura- 
tive style  amounts  to  talking  and  reading  by  short- 
hand ;  and  that  is  next  to  doing  them  by  steam  ! 

A  class  of  narrow-minded  persons,  while  disclaim- 
ing the  intention  of  educating  boys  in  the  common 
schools  for  mere  store-keepers,  or  farmers,  and  girls 
for  mere  mantua-makers,  stocking-knitters,  and  the 
like,  yet  loudly  contend  for  an  education  strictly  re- 
publican. But  of  what  should  a  true  republican  be 
ignorant,  if  knoioledge  is  so  important  in  education  ? 
Is  his  information  to  be  restricted  to  things  of  this 
continent?  Shall  he  be  taught  that  all  virtue  re- 
sides on  this  side  the  water,  and  all  vice  beyond  it  ? 
Why  must  his  education  in  any  one  respect  be  less 
extensive  and  liberal  than  that  of  Europeans  ?  And 
if  a  severely  disciplined  mind  be  necessary  for  the 
duties  of  a  free  citizen,  how  can  a  mind  be  properly 
disciplined  but  by  studies  the  same  as  are  employed 
in  its  discipline  everywhere  ? 

Formal  lectures  have  been  delivered  before  pub- 
lic institutions,  to  prove  that  it  is  not  proper    for 


THE  SCIE^X•E,   Oil  THE  END  UF  TEACHING.  53 

American  youth  to  imitate  ancient  patriotism.  But 
what  avails  such  a  caution,  if  at  the  same  time  the 
Bible  be  excluded,  or  if  men  neglect  its  copious 
and  decided  instructions  ?  It  is  taken  for  granted, 
in  all  such  excessive  cautions,  that  nobody  will  or 
can  think  for  himself — and,  therefore,  that  the 
thinking  must  all  be  done  for  him.  This  argument 
for  the  necessity  of  withholding  classical  studies,  be- 
cause of  accidental  injury  to  the  weak  and  careless, 
from  misapprehension  and  misapplication  of  ancient 
sentiments,  resembles  the  papistical  argument  for 
withholding  the  Scriptures  from  the  common  peo- 
ple. And,  indeed,  if  we  abandon  the  discipline  of 
the  mind  as  the  true  and  only  education,  it  may  be- 
come necessary  to  take  from  the  unthinking  every- 
thing in  the  shape  of  an  edge-tool. 

But  admit  the  false  and  narrow  principle,  that  our 
system  of  education  should  form  republicans,  what 
is  true  republicanism?  Different  sections  of  the 
country  have  different  standards  of  orthodoxy,  in 
politics  as  in  religion.  Attempts  are  sometimes 
made  to  educate  men  as  southerners,  as  eastern  men, 
as  western  men  !  And  what  is  the  eflect,  but  to 
cultivate  prejudice  and  engender  strife,  not  towards 
other  nations  only,  but  towards  the  members  of  our 
republican  family  ?  We  lay  thus  foundation  for 
lasting  and  secret  dislikes,  for  clannish  hostilities, 
as  ruinous  as  ignorance  or  despotism. 

Look,  for  instance,  at  certain  school-books  com- 
piled on  patriotic  principles.  A  special  section  of 
the  country  is  assumed  as  the  true  centre,  around 
which  others  revolve,  and  the  true   meridian  as  to 


54 


CIlAl'TER   11. 


which  all  climates,  cities,  peoples,  manners  are  com- 
pared and  contrasted.  The  comparisons  are,  often, 
like  that  of  comparing  the  size  of  a  stone  to  a  lump 
of  chalk.  This  presumption  may  provoke  a  smile  ; 
but  what  shall  we  do,  when  sometimes  in  such 
school-books  appeals  are  made  to  ignorance  and 
prejudice  ?  Pictures,  we  are  told,  give  a  condensed 
representation  of  the  leading  features  of  a  country 
— its  habits,  tastes,  pursuits,  and  the  like.  It  is  a 
time  and  labor-saving  mode  of  acquiring  knowledge 
and  philosophy.  In  some  school-books  the  South  is 
represented  by  the  picture  of  a  negro  under  the 
lash !  or  a  planter  on  horseback,  surrounded  with 
his  dogs  ! — to  intimate  that  cruelty  and  idleness  are 
the  characteristics  !  And  again,  to  show  European 
nations  at  a  glance,  we  have  pictures  of  noblemen 
in  sleighs,  approving  the  dexterity  of  the  driver  in  up- 
setting half-a-dozen  common  folk  into  the  deep  snow, 
and  in  spite  of  all  their  praiseworthy  attempts  to 
keep  out  of  harm's  way  !  or  pictures  of  pampered 
and  lordly  horses,  most  inconsiderately  prancing  on 
a  prostrate  beggar,  who  in  self-defence  (first  law  of 
nature  !)  is  sticking  up  his  wooden  leg,  not  in  defi- 
ance, but  in  a  most  piteous  and  imploring  attitude. 
Alas !  hard-hearted  urchins  of  the  school-room 
oftener  laugh  than  cry  at  such  pictures. 

And  this  is  republican  education  !  We  need  do 
nothing  in  school-books  to  foster  prejudices,  or  pro- 
mote political  sectarianism ;  weeds  grow  without 
culture.  Better  to  cultivate  a  spirit  of  philanthropy. 
Grant  us  true  teachers,  with  any  or  no  system  ;  and 
provided  the  State  will  let  such  men  alone,  our  chil- 


THE   SCIENCE,   OR  THE   END  OF  TEACHING.  55 

dren,  during  the  intellectual  training,  can  be  in- 
structed in  religion  and  morals  ;  and  taught  also  to 
value  our  civil  liberties  above  all  earthly  blessings — 
to  die,  if  it  must  be,  in  their  defence.  The  place  of 
their  nativity  they  may  specially  love,  and  certain 
employments  they  may  prefer ;  and  yet  they  may 
be  taught  to  make  a  home  in  that  place  whither,  in 
the  whole  world,  choice  may  lead  or  necessity  drive  ; 
and  to  regard  other  men's  sinless  occupations  and 
recreations  as  equally  honorable  as  their  own.  Our 
children  should  not  be  forced  by  partial  systems  to 
follow  the  trail  of  their  ancestors,  or  to  consider 
trades,  arts,  professions  hereditary. 

Another  class  exists,  not  indeed  narrow-minded, 
but,  through  the  influence  of  the  practical  spirit, 
mistaken.  These  are  willing  to  educate  liberally 
and  extensively,  provided  short  time  be  spent  in  the 
process,  and  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  all 
kinds  and  sorts  of  knowledge  be  acquired.  In  their 
hands,  education  becomes  cramming.  But,  if  possi- 
ble to  crowd  a  gallon  of  water  into  a  gill  measure, 
it  would  end  in  the  destruction  of  the  receiver — un- 
less phrenological  art  devise  some  way  of  making 
heads  stronger  than  nature.  To  this  mistake,  we 
owe  the  flood  of  school-books ;  for,  whatever  this 
class  of  persons  conceive  important  to  be  known  at 
any  time  of  life,  is  deemed  necessary  to  be  known 
in  childhood ;  and  what  may  be  needful  for  some, 
needful  for  all.  Ilcnce,  in  addition  to  the  former  stock 
of  subjects,  are  books  on  mineralogy,  conchology,  bot- 
any, anatomy,  geology,  natural  history,  architecture, 


CHAPTER  11. 


56 

infant  chemistry,  infant  physics — perhaps,  on  swim- 
ming, riding,  shooting,  sailing — and  on  shoemaking, 
tailoring,  preaching,  curing,  lawing — anti,  what 
not?  If  a  boy  studied  at  school  the  mere  knowledges 
for  which  school-books  are  prepared,  he  would,  at 
even  sixpence  apiece,  soon  exhaust  his  purse,  and 
require,  not  a  satchel  and  a  strap,  but  a  wheelbarrow 
and  a  porter. 

We  contend,  that  to  impart  knowledge  is  not  the 
chief,  nor  most  important  part  of  true  education. 
It  is,  in  fact,  no  part  of  discipline.  Without  disci- 
pline, knowledge  is  almost  useless  ;  not  infrequently 
a  folly  and  injury.  Mere  knowledge  "  puffeth  up." 
Rarely  is  it  ever  increased  beyond  the  meagre  de- 
tails of  elementary  books.  The  mind  untrained, 
endless  misapplications  of  knowledge  lead  to  losses 
and  constant  derision.  The  "  knowledges,"  as  they 
may  be  called,  are  innumerable  ;  but  rigorous  disci- 
pline requires  few  books,  and,  after  all  the  loud 
cry  in  favor  of  cheapness,  it  requires  less  price,  and, 
if  not  a  less,  at  least  a  definite  time. 

We  are  ready,  now,  to  say  what  the  end  of  edu- 
cation should  be,  and  what  it  always  has  been  with 
the  wise.  It  is  to  teach  an  art.  It  is  to^create  or 
form  thinkers.  The  end  of  education  is,  the  Power 
or  Art  of  Thinking.  By  this  art  is  meant,  a  state  of 
the  soul  ormmd  in  ichich  it  is  Jitter  f 07-  all  aiid  for 
more  uses  than  in  its  natural  state.  Like  other  arts, 
this  may  be  taught  and  learned  ;  and,  like  them, 
it  depends  partly  on  rules  and  principles  derived 
from  masters,  and  partly  on  its  own  exertions  and 


THE  SCIENCE,   OR  THE  END  OF  TEACHLNG.  5-7 

practice.  When  the  power  approximates  perfec- 
tion, the  soul  begins  to  see  intuitively,  and  the  pu- 
pil has  what  is  termed  presence  of  mind. 

When  perfect,  this  art  renders  the  rnind  calm, 
thoughtful,  discriminating,  prompt,  energetic.  It 
helps  to  see  and  weigh  the  absolute  and  relative  im- 
portance of  every  subject  within  our  scope  ;  to  fol- 
low truth  in  what  is  new,  and  reject  error  in  what 
is  old.  The  soul,  in  possession  of  itself,  hastens  not 
to  conclusions ;  it  sees  the  end  from  the  beginning  ; 
it  counts  the  cost.  We  learn  not  to  be  amazed  at 
the  mighty  achievements  of  human  skill,  ingenuity, 
perseverance :  we  scarcely  are  surprised.  We 
praise  and  blame,  not  as  schemes  are  successful  and 
unsuccessful,  but  according  to  their  intrinsic  charac- 
ter at  the  hour  of  formation.  Taught  by  this  art 
self-knowledge,  we  make  allowances  for  weakness 
and  errors,  arising  from  temptation,  nervous  irrita- 
tion, and  irrepressible  pains  and  anxieties. 

In  our  intercourse,  this  art  becomes  tact.  This 
keeps  us  attentive  to  the  minutest  actions.  To  the 
discerning,  a  man  of  disciplined  mind  may  be  known 
by  the  way  in  which  he  walks,  stands,  sits,  eats — 
by  the  way  he  takes  up  or  lays  down  a  book,  opens 
or  shuts  a  door,  manages  an  umbrella,  stirs  a  fire  ! 
The  art  promotes  politeness,  order,  decency,  rever- 
ence, good  will ;  in  short,  "  whatsoever  is  lovely  and 
of  good  report.''  It  puts  a  man  in  possession  of  him- 
self; it  gives  him  victory  over  his  spirit ;  it  supports 
unostentatious  dignity  ;  it  prevents  the  oft-used  plea 
of  indolence,  vanity,  presumption,  selfishness  and 
foUv,   condensed    in    the    formula — "Oh!    I   never 


58  CHAPTER  II. 

thought  /"  And  it  makes  the  man,  when  verging 
towards  that  apology,  rebuke  his  own  spirit,  in  the 
style  of  Chesterfield  :  "Why,  you  fool !  what  were 
you  thinking  about,  when  you  should  have  thought !" 

How  shall  this  art  be  taught  ?  We  answer,  how 
does  a  wise  master  mechanic  proceed  with  an  ap- 
prentice ?  Does  he  seek,  and  in  the  shortest  possi- 
ble time,  to  fill  him  with  knowledge  on  the  subject? 
Does  he  simply  tell  the  lad  the  names  and  uses  of 
tools,  and  the  different  parts  and  pieces  of  a  con- 
structed work  ?  and  require  the  boy  to  commit  to 
memory  pretty  little  books  of  pictures  and  questions, 
to  be  recited  like  "  a  good  little  fellow,"  at  proper 
periods  ?  Does  the  master  read  to  the  apprentice 
lectures  on  the  history  of  the  art  ?  and  by  ingenious 
methods  look  for  the  "  developments  ?"  Does  he, 
in  a  word,  allow  the  apprentice  to  be  a  jjassive  re- 
cipient ?  and  when  stuffed,  set  him  up  with  an  im- 
posing stock  of  ready-made  articles,  as  are  seen  in 
a  slop-shop  ?  No  ;  he  makes  the  boy  wo)-k,  like  a 
servant,  with  each  and  every  instrument,  from  a 
jack-planing  process  up  to  the  French  polish ;  and 
when  idle  and  disobedient,  he  anoints  him  with  an 
unguent  well  known  in  the  common  arts,  if  unknown 
in  the  chemical  nomenclature — the  oU  of  birch. 
And  when  the  well-disciplined  apprentice  has  the 
whole  subject  wrought  into  him,  and  can  think  in 
and  about  it,  the  master  furnishes  the  raw  material ; 
and  the  boy,  himself  a  master  now,  advertises  inde- 
pendently for  orders,  and  is  ready  to  work  after  any 
model,  new  or  old,  or  invent  patterns  of  his  own. 

We  know  how  changes  are  rung  on  the  popular 


THE  SCIENCE,   OR  THE  END  OF  TEACHING.  gQ 

doctrine,  "  Knowledge  is  power  !"  We  know,  too, 
the  insufferable  conceit  of  many  well  filled  with  all 
'*  the  knowledges,"  who  swell  out  as  if  filled  with 
all  power.  But  mere  knowledge  is  not  power  ;  at 
best,  a  power  to  be  used  only  by  men  of  thought. 
Men  of  mere  knowledge  are  themselves  obedient  to 
men  of  thought.  The  man  of  thought  can  do  with 
less  knowledge  than  the  other ;  but  he  adds  to  his 
daily  store  whatever  he  deems  useful.  The  Art  of 
Thinking  is  power. 

Does  any  one  suppose  that  the  facetious  gentle- 
man, who,  when  the  ordinary  means  of  pouring  cold 
water  over  their  heads,  and  pulling  at  their  tails,  had 
failed,  separated  the  fighting  dogs  by  emptying  the 
contents  of  his  snuff-box  into  their  eyes,  did  this  be- 
cause he  had  learned  at  school  that  "  snuff,  in  suita- 
ble quantities,  administered  to  eyes  and  nose,  is  a 
good  remedy  for  separating  fighting  dogs  ?"  No ; 
the  gentleman  so  acted  because  he  was  a  thinker. 
Out  of  a  dozen  snuff-boxes  present,  not  another  was 
produced  ;  not  that  the  crowd  did  not  know  that 
snuff  would  blind  a  dog  and  make  him  sneeze,  but 
because  they  did  not  think  of  that  peculiar  applica- 
tion of  their  knowledge.  When,  therefore,  this 
thinker  retired  from  the  applause  of  the  people,  say- 
ing, "  Knowledge  is  power,"  he  might  have  added, 
"  provided  you  think  when  and  how  to  use  it." 

Men  of  thought  are,  then,  superior  to  men  of 
mere  knowledge.  Like  the  poor  wise  man  com- 
memorated in  the  Ecclesiastes,  men  of  thought  may 
be  disregarded  in  days  of  prosperity  ;  yet  these  only 
can  save  the  city  and  the  country  in  days  of  adver- 


60 


CHAPTER   a. 


sity.  Noisy  and  conceited  doers  may  affect  to 
despise  the  others  ;  but  men  of  thought  are  the  real 
masters  of  the  world,  and  that  mastership  is  ac- 
knowledged in  emergencies.  Then  they  come  from 
their  retirement,  and  show  how  knowledge  is  to  be 
used.  It  is  of  thinkers  we  stand  in  awe ;  to  them 
we  do  homage ;  to  them  we  go  for  light  in  dark- 
ness, guidance  in  prosperity,  succor  in  danger. 
Their  predictions  are  quoted  as  oracles,  their  senti- 
ments adopted  for  rules.  The  very  concession  that 
the  rigorous  course  of  elementary  training,  of  which 
we  shall  presently  treat,  is  proper  for  persons  whose 
employments  are  regarded  as  rather  mental  than 
corporeal,  shows  that  severe  discipline  is  indispen- 
sable for  thinkers.  It  seems  to  say,  too,  that,  as  the 
vast  majority  of  persons  are  not  to  think,  they  need 
only  knowledge  of  rules,  or  laws  of  action,  to  be 
furnished  by  the  others,  as  masters  to  the  servants . 

If  proper  discipline,  however,  can  transform  any 
into  thinkers,  who  otherwise  must  remain  mere 
agents  ;  if  that  discipline  can  cause  many  to  approx- 
imate to  the  nobler  rank ;  are  we  tamely  to  relin- 
quish privileges,  and  do  what  we  can  by  apathy  and 
indolence,  to  create  an  upper  caste  ?  Shall  we  be 
governed  by  an  oligarchy,  who  exercise  the  most 
potent  of  all  masterships,  a  mastersljip  over  our 
souls  ?  and  who,  if  bad  men,  will  exercise  that  for 
evil  ?  Granting  that  knowledge  is  a  power,  why  not 
make  it  two-fold,  aye,  a  thousand-fold,  by  adding  the 
power  of  thought  1 

The  art  of  thinking  is  not  for  the  poor,  nor  the 
rich  ;  not  for  the  mechanic,  nor  the  farmer  ;  not  for 


THE  SCIEXCE,   OR   THE   END   OF  TEACIII.NC  ^j 

tHe  clergyman,  nor  tlie  layman ;  it  is  for  all.  It  may, 
in  some  degree,  be  taught  to  all.  True  education 
is  not  to  constitue  the  pupil  a  'practical  artist  of  any 
kind — a  doer  ;  it  does  not  make  one  immediately 
even  a  scholar.  Education,  while  elementary,  is  to 
fit  the  pupil  by  training  his  mental  powers  for  the 
subsequent  instruction  of  masters  in  law,  medicine, 
divinity,  merchandise,  politics,  eloquence,  poetry, 
painting,  engineering,  farming — in  everything  intrin- 
sically worthy  of  being  styled  an  art,  trade,  science, 
profession.  Nay,  those  very  mechanical  arts  that 
put  hats  on  our  heads,  shoes  on  our  feet,  and  coats 
on  our  backs ;  that  supply  bread  and  meat  for  our 
tables ;  all  such  would  be  still  more  honorable  and 
profitable  if  their  masters  were  not  mei'c  doers,  but 
also  thinkers. 

Who  can  estimate  the  loss  of  time,  the  misdirec- 
tion of  powers,  the  waste  of  material,  the  absurd 
schemes  in  ordinary  mechanical  arts,  from  want  of 
the  power  of  thought!  How  many  fine  estates 
have  been  w^asted,  how  many  characters  blighted, 
how  much  good  influence  paralyzed,  how  many 
lives  lost,  how  many  governments  overthrown — in  a 
word,  how  much  ruin,  temporal  and  eternal,  in 
every  class  of  life,  has  ensued,  not  always  from  any 
special  depravity,  but  simply  from  want  of  thought ! 

Proper  elementary  education  prepares  for  the 
countless  offices  and  duties  of  life,  by  far  more  diffi- 
cult and  important  than  the  duties  of  any  separate 
art,  trade,  employment,  or  profession.  The  mode  in 
which  we  gain  a  livelihood,  is  not  the  only  way  in 
which  thought  is  to  be  used.  Society  claims  us  ; 
4 


CHAPTER    II. 


and  that  society  cannot  be  safe  without  the  intellect- 
ual culture  of  its  members.  We  shall  act  as  pa- 
rents, as  children,  as  citizens,  as  officers  and  law- 
givers, as  select-men  and  counsellors,  as  trustees 
of  corporations,  as  school-committees  and  exam- 
iners, as  commanders  of  armies  and  navies — yes, 
we  shall  act  in  a  thousand  ways,  when  the  interests, 
characters  and  lives  of  men  depend,  not  on  our  ac- 
tivity, our  industry  merely,  but  on  our  power  of 
thought.  It  is  a  wretched  theory  that  confines  se- 
vere mental  discipline  in  primary  education  to  a  few  ; 
for  although,  if  the  majority  choose  to  surrender 
the  right,  a  comparatively  few  thinkers  may  fill 
many  offices  of  ruling  and  teaching,  yet  there  re- 
main innumerable  offices  and  duties,  that  unless  the 
many  are  competent,  must  be  either  wholly  neg- 
lected or  badly  filled  and  discharged. 

But  if  society  did  not  need  all  its  members,  shall 
the  delights  of  disciplined  minds  be  denied  to  the 
mass  ?  Are  men  made  expressly  and  only  to  saw 
boards,  drive  nails,  polish  marble,  measure  tape, 
drive  oxen,  rake  hay,  inspect  ledgers,  command 
ships  ?  Are  women  made  to  study  dressing,  follow 
fashions,  sew  at  cat  stitch,  make  butter,  milk  cows, 
rub  furniture,  sweep  rooms,  alter  bonnets  ?  When 
weary  of  all  this,  shall  they  sleep,  or  betake  them- 
selves to  frivolity  or  scandal  ?  Shall  this  be  the  an- 
nual round,  year  after  year,  till  the  end  of  life  ? 
Shall  the  minds  of  these  be  forever  occupied  with 
what  they  shall  eat,  and  drink,  and  wear,  and  gain 
and  lose?  Was  the  godlike  spirit  meant  for  this  ? 
A  disciplined  mind  would  enable  such  to  find  count- 


THE  PriENCE,  OR  THE  E.\D  OF  TEACiriNG.  go 

less  joys  and  refreshments  at  home ;  and  would  do 
more  than  volumes  of  censure  to  destroy  the  ball- 
room, the  theatre,  and  places  of  doubtful  character 
and  tendency. 

To  the  writer,  an  independent  and  deep  thinker, 
who,  master  of  any  art  or  trade,  mechanical,  agri- 
cultural, or  mercantile,  adorns,  improves,  and  makes 
it  more  useful  to  himself  and  the  community  ;  and, 
ever  and  anon  steps  from  his  shop,  his  counter,  or 
his  field,  to  fill  adequately  some  office  of  honor  and 
trust,  seems  to  stand  on  the  same  elevated  plane 
with  men  especially  deemed  scholars  and  professors. 
This  man  is  felt.  He  controls  his  neighborhood. 
He  blushes  no  more  at  his  means  of  livelihood,  than 
men  who  live  by  the  fine  arts  or  by  the  learned  pro- 
fessions. Nay  ;  as  he  is  practical,  he  can  do  as  well 
as  direct.  He  is  a  light  of  the  world  !  He  shows 
there  ought  to  be  two  castes  only — the  industrious 
and  the  idle — the  good  and  the  bad. 

True  it  is,  that,  with  the  best  discipline,  the  ma- 
jority will  remain  unable  to  cope  wuth  those  whose 
very  professions  are  conversant  with  logic.  But  if 
we  may  not  move  in  orbits  of  the  greatest  ampli- 
tude, shall  we,  therefore,  resolve  to  move  in  orbits  of 
the  least  ?  And  if,  with  the  best  elementary  train- 
ing, we  may  be  inferior,  how  is  it  if  we  have  the 
worst  training,  or  none  ?  A  man  may  not  be  com- 
petent to  lead  ;  but  he  may  be  competent  to  deter- 
mine who  shall  lead,  and  whom  he  will  follow.  If 
that  be  the  competency  of  the  mass,  we  shall  be  in 
less  jeopardy  of  becoming  slaves  of  Rome,  or  any 
other  infidel  or  anti-christian   hierarchy,  or  despot- 


64 


CHAPTER    II. 


ism.  And  from  this  slavery  mere  knowledge  cannot 
save.  Not  only  is  a  little  knowledge  a  dangerous 
thing ;  but,  without  an  educated,  disciplined  mind, 
any  or  all  knowledge  is  dangerous. 

Minds,  like  bodies,  have  varieties,  sometimes  wide 
differences  ;  and  this,  whether  genius  be  separate 
from  talents,  or  the  special  power  of  concentrating 
talents  to  one  point,  or  for  one  object.  No  severity 
and  excellence  of  discipline  can,  therefore,  destroy, 
perhaps  even  lessen  these  distinctions.  A  mind  of 
inferior  order,  if  duly  cultivated,  will  usually  excel, 
in  jpractice,  an  uncultivated  mind  of  high  order ;  so 
a  well-tilled  soil,  although  inferior,  yields  a  more 
abundant  crop  than  a  soil  neglected,  of  a  superior 
quality.  A  persevering  tortoise  crawls  slowly,  in- 
deed, but  certainly,  beyond  a  slumbering  fox.  But 
while  different  orders  of  mind,  equally  disciplined, 
go  far  beyond  the  progress  of  their  undisciplined 
state,  their  original,  created,  and  relative  distances, 
in  this  life  certainly,  and  possibly  in  the  next,  shall 
remain  as  really  and  visibly  as  the  spaces  between 
the  forward  and  hinder  wheels  of  the  steam-car, 
while  all  yet  roll  onward  obedient  to  the  impulse  ! 

Be  the  mind  comparatively  what  it  may,  the 
power  of  thinking  gives  it  self-possession  ;  and  that 
mere  knowledge  received  without  effort,  or  with 
small  effort,  never  does.  In  this  state  the  mind 
craves  knowledge  as  its  pabulum  and  material,  but 
with  an  enlarged  capacity  of  acquiring  knowledge, 
and  ample  room  and  skill  to  store  the  stock,  with 
art  to  use  it  when  needed.  Even  tools  that  would 
lie  unemployed  in  other  men's  chests,  who  may  have 


THE    SCIENCE,    OR  THE   END   OF    TEACHLNG.  55 

some  knowledge  of  their  use,  serve  the  disciplined 
better  than  untutored  owners.  Power  of  thought 
turns  a  small  capital  to  answer  the  purpose  of  a 
large  one,  and  laughs  at  the  occasional  prodigality 
of  mere  knowing. 

This  valuable  art  can  be  learned.  But  the  way 
is  long  and  difficult ;  not,  perhaps,  more  so  than  the 
way  through  ''  the  knowledges  :"  and  yet  well  worth 
double  the  toil  and  expense  of  the  popular  method, 
if  the  intrinsic  excellence  and  practical  advantages 
of  the  art  are  appreciated.  The  mind  must  be  long 
exercised  in  severe  and  rigorous  studies. 

Is  the  soul  equal  to  the  body  ?  then  ought  the 
soul  to  be  worth  a  discipline  analogous  to  that  of 
the  body.  Is  it  superior  ?  then  ought  we  to  blush 
at  the  preference  generally  shown  for  a  bodily  dis- 
cipline. The  body  is  subjected  to  the  discipline  of 
the  gymnasium  in  order  to  be  formed  to  a  graceful 
carriage,  to  obtain  robust  health,  to  acquire  adroit 
motions,  and  to  be  competent  to  feats  of  dexterity 
and  strength.  What  is  the  awkward  gait  of  the  un- 
practised to  the  fairy  steps  of  the  elastic  dancer,  or 
the  arrowy  flight  of  the  racer  ?  what  the  cleaver- 
like hackings  of  a  recruit  to  the  lightning  point  of 
the  swordsman  ?  Trained  skill  of  weakness  shall 
easily  foil  the  giant  efforts  of  rude  strength.  A  child 
by  the  aid  of  his  hands,  can,  in  many  things,  excel 
an  ox  ;  and  what  hands  are  to  the  body,  so  is  the  art 
of  thinking  to  the  soul. 

If  the  body,  with  the  world's  approbation,  be  sub- 
jected to  a  rigorous  discipline,  why  should  the  soul 
be  neglected ;  or  why  be  deemed  unworthy  pains 


66 


CHAPTER    II. 


bestowed  upon  the  body  ?  Shall  the  clay  taberna- 
cle, tumbling  into  ruins  from  the  shock  of  its  own  mo- 
tions— a  scabbard  wearing  from  the  keenness  of  its 
own  sword — receive  all  the  care  ?  and  that  which 
becomes  more  alive  from  its  very  activity,  and  is 
destined  to  flourish  forever — the  undying  soul,  not 
be  fully  prepared  for  the  exercise  of  its  noblest  fac- 
ulties ?  Surely  the  soul  ought  not  to  grope  in  dark- 
ness, to  be  appalled  at  imaginary  danger,  to  be  de- 
based by  superstition,  to  be  driven  about  by  every 
wind  of  doctrine,  to  become  a  tool  and  a  slave  to 
the  designing  ! 

All  feeling  and  argument,  therefore,  which  favor 
the  smallest  degree  of  suitable  intellectual  discipline, 
separate  from  passivity,  in  the  recipiency  of  knowl- 
edge, favor  the  highest  degree. 

Let  it  be  distinctly  understood.  The  final  end  of 
intellectual  discipline,  is  the  largest  possible  capa- 
city to  serve  God.  As  we  write  in  part  for  practical 
men,  and  some  such  have  small  faith  and  others  no 
faith, we  remark,  that,  overlooking  the  true  end,  and 
regarding  the  secondary — practical  advantages — no 
education  so  well  secures  that  end  as  the  one  now 
recommended.  We  are  willing  to  do  again,  what 
to  a  considerable  extent  we  have  done,  in  various 
ways,  repeatedly — to  submit  the  matter  to  the  test 
of  experiment.  If  possible,  let  two  young  persons, 
equal  in  all  respects,  be  selected,  and  separately  edu- 
cated ;  let  the  period  be  for  the  same  term  of  years, 
but  not  less  than  five  nor  more  than  ten  ;  let  one  be 
trained  in  the  modern  system  of  knowledges,  and 
the  other  in  any  system  of  the  severe  old  school, 


THK  SCIK.NX'K,  uK  THK  E.NU  OF  TKACUINU.  yy 

rod-enforced,    self-exerting,   spirit-trying,  patience- 
provoking,   labor-causing,    toil-producing,   but  spe- 
cially in  the  system  directly  to  be  recommended  ; 
then,  launch  both  the  pupils,  at  the  same  time  and  in 
the  same  circumstances  of  poverty  and  destitution, 
into  the  troubled  waters  of  life.     The  latter  shall  be 
seen  swimming,  or  wading,  or  walking,  as  the  tide 
demands  or  admits ;  the  former,  floating,  or  driven 
at  the  mercy  of  the  winds,  mired  or  sinking !     Or 
let  both  pursue  a  professional  or  literary  life.     The 
truly    disciplined,  with  even  less  knowledge,  shall 
very   soon  excel  the  other  in  any  assigned   task ; 
shall,  if  necessary,  excel  him  in  acquiring  knowl- 
edge, and  this  with  so  much  ease,  that  ten  years  af- 
ter the   academical  training  shall  have  ended,  the 
world  shall  ascribe  the  dilferences,  not  to  the  oppo- 
site elementary  trainings,  but  to  differences  in  native 
intellectual  powers. 

Turn  we  now  to  the  proper  system  by  which  the 
art  or  power  of  thinking  may  be  acquired.     This 
system  boasts  no  captivating  name.     It  is  not  the 
analytical,  the  synthetical,  the  inductive.     Nor  is  it 
antagonistical,  opposing  the  Latin  to  the  English,  or 
the  English  to  the  Latin.     It  is  calculated  for  no 
one  meridian  ;  nor  is  it  made  specially  for  the  great 
valley  of  the  Mississippi,  or  any  other  great  valley. 
The  system — alas !  for  its  success  ! — is  not  even  a 
new  system  !     It  has  some  anticjuity  in  its  favor — it 
has  been  tested  by  ages — and  it  is  modest  and  sim- 
ple !     But,  before  naming  our  favorite  method,  let 
us  look  a  moment  at  some  leading  things  to  be  done 
by  any  intellectual  discipline. 


QS  triAPTER    II. 

And  first,  it  is  desirable  to  exercise  and  strengthen 
the  power  of  attention.  In  proportion  to  the  inten- 
sity and  fixedness  of  the  mind  in  contemplating  ob- 
jects, the  mind  comprehends  these  objects  :  hence, 
other  mental  capacities  being  equal,  success  comes 
to  one  man  from  his  attention  ;  failure  is  encountered 
by  another,  from  want  of  attention. 

Next,  it  is  desirable  to  cultivate  perseverance. 
Even  intense  and  fixed  attention  is  often  unavailing, 
because  not  long  enough  continued,  and  because 
not  resumed  again  and  again  after  repeated  and 
necessary  failures,  and  unavoidable  interruptions. 
Perseverance  is  almost  a  talent,  but  it  is  an  acquired 
talent,  and  must  have  an  inexorable  master  to 
teach  it. 

But  perseverance  itself  may  be  wholly  stopped  for 
a  season.  Tools  may  not  be  at  hand.  Material  may 
be  wanting.  Patience,  then,  must  be  cultivated ; 
for  we  must  often  wait,  and  without  fretfulness,  not 
only  days,  but  even  months,  and  years,  for  opportu- 
nities and  other  favorable  circumstances.  Success 
often  depends  upon  our  power  of  forbearing  and 
restraining,  as  well  as  of  acting.  We  must  learn  to 
suspend,  but  not  relinquish,  or  abandon.  We  must 
bide  the  time. 

If,  however,  attention,  persevering  and  "patient, 
were  always  directed  to  one  thing,  or  to  one  class 
of  things,  the  mind  would  become  narrow  instead 
of  enlarged ;  and  often  a  species  of  monomania 
would  result — that  of  drawing  all  or  very  extensive 
conclusions  from  one  or  narrow  premises.  Caution 
and  comprehension  are,  therefore,  to  be  cultivated  ; 


THE   SCIENCE,  OR  THE  END  OF  TEACHING.  f,f) 

and  these,  first,  conclude  not  till  after  full  examina- 
tion of  cognate  subjects,  and  next,  hold  the  conclu- 
sions ready  to  be  modified  by  subsequent  discoveries. 

In  cultivating  the  preceding  qualities,  or  states 
of  the  soul,  we  cherish  a  state  of  contented  reliance 
on  probabilities.  And  this  reliance  is  unavoidable  ; 
but  the  undisciplined  mind  abhors  it.  Such  a  mind 
looks  for  absolute  moral  certainties.  A  spirit  of 
faith  is  necessary  to  our  success  and  happiness. 
The  mere  man  of  practice  goes  wholly  by  sight ; 
and  what  is  not  seen  is  not  believed.  And  yet  what 
is  unseen  is  often  nearer  truth  than  what  is  seen. 
In  patience  we  must  learn  to  possess  our  souls. 

Again,  the  Aristotelian  logic  may  not  safely  be 
despised  ;  still  is  it  not  sufficient  for  discipline  to 
know  the  terms  of  that  art,  or  to  apply  them  to  ex- 
amples in  the  text-books.  Incessant  practice  in  that 
logic  is  needed,  till  thoughts  and  words  rise  and  flow 
in  the  logical  channel  between  the  banks  of  major 
and  minor,  to  the  harbor  of  just  conclusions.  The 
pugilist  who  attempts  boxing  by  the  rules  of  Men- 
doza's  book,  endeavoring  to  recall  them  after  a  few 
readings,  with  a  friend  who  has  practised  the  rules 
and  long  since  forgotten  the  words  and  the  very 
book,  resembles  a  reasoner  who  merely  knows,  in 
logical  combat  with  an  opponent,  who  to  knowledge 
has  added  experience,  after  a  severe  and  rigorous 
practice. 

Nor  let  memory  be  forgotten.  This  faculty  is 
capable  of  indefinite  improvement,  whether  we  re- 
gard its  capaciousness  or  its  tenacity.  A  very  vul- 
gar prejudice  exists  in  places  against  a  good  memory, 
4* 


"70  CHAPTER    II. 

because  uncultivated  minds  of  quickness  remember 
things  trifling  in  their  nature,  and  empty  out  the  en- 
tire cargo  on  all  occasions.  But  memory  in  a  dis- 
ciplined state  may  not  only  be  vastly  improved  ;  it 
may  be  made  to  acquire  and  store  things  useful,  and 
such  only.  Without  memory  man  would  be  like  a 
merchant  without  a  warehouse.  A  warehouse  may 
indeed  be  crowded  with  stuftsof  no  value,  but  it  can 
be  filled  also  with  articles  the  most  valuable.  In 
the  disciplined  state  the  memory  is  filled,  however, 
not  with  details,  but  with  rules.  An  undisciplined 
memory  retains  the  very  words  of  demonstration  ; 
the  disciplined  retains  the  principles.  Every  teacher 
of  the  mathematics  knows  this  distinction,  as  it  is 
daily  manifested  by  different  pupils. 

A  habit  of  order  is  indispensable,  since  by  system 
and  arrangement  not  only  is  every  sort  of  work 
facilitated,  but  works  diftering  and  opposite  in  their 
nature  can  all  be  equally  well  done  in  their  turn. 
Students,  for  instance,  by  an  orderly  arrangement, 
may  study  several  languages,  ancient  and  modern, 
and  several  branches  of  mathematics  ;  and  also  read 
history,  travels,  mineralogy,  with  the  cum  multis  ; 
and  yet  be  fair  proficients  as  mere  amateurs  in  mu- 
sic, or  drawing,  or  both  ;  and  have,  beyond,  time  for 
company  and  recreation.  No  one  need  ever  lose 
his  health  by  being  a  very  hard  student :  that  many 
do,  is  certain,  but  it  is  not  necessary  that  even  one 
should.  Indolence  of  mind,  laziness  of  body,  wil- 
ful rejection  of  what  they  know  to  be  truth,  kills 
students,  with   the   aid   of  smoking   and   chewing. 


THE  SCJE.NCE,  OK  THE   END  OF   TEACHING.  -yj 

But  hard  study,  with  a  proper  arrangement,  never 
yet  killed  any  man. 

Nor  ought  the  cultivation  of  taste,  fancy,  or  imag- 
ination to  be  neglected  in  elementary  training.  All 
these  faculties  may  be  excited  and  directed,  in  early 
hfe,  by  daily  acquaintance  with  living  or  departed 
authors,  long  before  we  are  capable  of  appreciating 
reasonings  about  their  nature. 

Such  are  some  of  the  principal  objects  to  be 
gained  by  a  proper  school  discipline.  To  attain  the 
end,  we  must  find  either  many  subjects  of  study,  and 
these  neither  too  easy  nor  too  difficult,  and  which 
may  be  used,  not  as  "  knowledges,"  but  as  tools  and 
instruments  ;  or  we  must  find  a  class  of  studies  with 
ample  praxis  for  our  purposes,  and  suited  by  pro- 
gressive difficulty  to  the  progressive  demands  of 
the  pupil.  But  it  is  of  vital  importance  that  this 
elementary  system  should  be  used  by  a  master  ;  and 
the  master  should  be  such  as  has  been  drawn  in  the 
preceding  chapter 

We  are  now  ready  to  say  that  the  system  of  ele- 
mentary education  or  discipline  advocated  and 
recommended,  is  tlie  old-fashioned  system  of  the 
dead  languages,  and  the  pure  mathematics,  as  taught 
in  the  best  schools  of  Great  Britain,  and,  thirty  years 
ago,  in  the  best  schools   n  the  United  States. 

We  leave  out  of  view  the  mathematics  in  our 
further  consideration  of  the  system,  as  the  tende)icy 
of  the  age,  while  mainly  in  favor  of  the  mathematics 
because  of  the  practical  and  pecuniai-y  advantages, 
is  yet  not  so  adverse  here  to  what  is  abstract,  or 
rather,  is  willing  to  submit  here  to  the  almost  una- 


•y2  CHAPTER    II. 

voidable  abstract ;  and  because  if  any  one  can  be 
persuaded  to  take  the  true  course  in  languages,  he 
by  that  act  consents  to  the  true  course  in  mathe- 
matics. 

Confining,  then,  the  view  to  the  classics,  what  is 
proper  instruction  here  from  first  to  last,  other  than 
a  series  of  incessant,  yet  ever-varied  exercises  in 
fixedness  of  attention  ?  in  concentrating  all  the  pow- 
ers and  ingenuity  of  the  soul,  to  read  hidden  mean- 
ings, ascertain  relations,  reconcile  seeming  contra- 
dictions ?  in  perseverance,  where  constant  failures 
attend  often  repeated  attempts  to  find  probable 
truth  ?  in  patience,  which  resolutely  waits  for  light 
from  other  quarters,  and  without  which  the  present 
text  is  darkness  impenetrable  to  the  most  perse- 
verijig  attention  1  What  are  here,  but  endless  exer- 
cises of  caution  and  comprehension,  in  surveys  innu- 
merable, at  every  step,  of  the  ground  passed  over ; 
correcting  conclusion  after  conclusion,  till  the  mind, 
having  complete  and  accurate  perception  of  the 
whole  at  once  and  of  all  its  parts,  settles  upon  a  con- 
clusion derived  from  the  entire  truth  ?  And  al- 
though the  mind  rejoices  in  its  discoveries,  it  remains 
watchful,  and  ready  for  suggestions  that  may  even 
yet  modify. 

The  proper  studying  of  languages,  under  a  com- 
petent teacher,  (and  very  many  professed  teachers 
are  wholly  incompetent,)  is  an  unceasing  exercise 
in  reasoning.  Never  is  the  full  sense  perceived  till 
subject,  and  copula,  and  predicate,  with  all  their  ac- 
cidents, are  completely  understood  and  considered. 
And  what  nice  discrimination  in   the  meaning  of 


THE  SCIENCf,  OR  THE  END  OF  TEACHING.  •73 

words  is  requisite  !  what  minute  inspection  of  par- 
ticles !  what  vigilant  care  to  detect  exceptions — 
since  rules  are  only  general  guides  !  to  say  nothing 
of  the  many  scrutinizing  inquiries,  and  rational  con- 
jectures instituted  and  paraded  to  make  an  errone- 
ous interpretation  of  a  part  harmonize  with  the 
probable  interpretation  of  the  whole  !  Nor  is  the 
advantage  to  the  mind  the  less,  if  one  utterly  fails  in 
discovering  the  true  meaning  of  a  passage.  Every 
faculty  of  the  mind  is  brought  into  play,  with 
more  and  more  activity  and  determination,  as  the 
difficulty  increases,  and  fear  of  failing  begins,  and 
yet  hope  of  succeeding  increases,  because  of  re- 
newed and  more  invincible  endeavors  to  find  the 
sense.  The  use  and  practice  of  the  faculties  is  the 
very  thing  that  is  desirable.  He  that  must  walk  for 
exercise,  may  walk  with  almost  equal  advantage  in 
any  direction  ;  and  if  he  set  out  with  an  object  in 
view,  he  may  fail  in  reaching  a  point,  or  gaining  an 
eminence,  or- finding  a  place — but  he  has  his  exer- 
cise. Nay,  if  failure  stimulates  him  to  try  again,  or 
to  look  in  another  direction,  and  he  exercises  more 
— that  repetition  and  increase  of  exertions  are  what 
he  needs. 

All  must  concede,  these  studies  do  wonderfully 
enlarge  and  strengthen,  and  so  to  speak,  correct  the 
memory.  Very  much  nnist  be  committed  to  me- 
mory ;  and  that  to  be  quoted  and  re-quoted,  in 
countless  repetitions  for  months  and  years.  And 
this  matter  is  of  the  nature  of  general  principles, 
applicable  to  all  language !  Exceptions  and  re- 
strictions are  necessary  ;  but  the  mind  exercised  in 


74  CHAPTER     II. 

hourly  and  minute  exceptions,  easily  does  this  ever 
after.  The  order  and  arrangement  of  the  dead 
languages  in  forms  and  changes  of  words,  in  struc- 
ture of  sentences  and  subjects,  make  impress  on  the 
mind,  never  to  be  effaced. 

In  all  literature,  where  are  any  better  models  of 
everything  imaginative,  fanciful,  impassioned,  elo- 
quent, poetic,  humorous  ?  Where  better  specimens 
of  every  kind  of  composition,  through  all  their  spe- 
cies, varieties,  and  sorts?  But,  if  as  good  or  better 
may  be  found  in  domestic  literature,  is  that  litera- 
ture all  accessible  to  boys  ?  And  what  can  the 
very  best  models  avail,  if  not  contemplated  with 
long,  uninterrupted,  intense  attention  ? 

The  preference  for  the  system  of  education  now 
recommended,  is  founded  not  on  a  belief  that  there 
is  nothing  equally  good  elsewhere  ;  but  on  the  be- 
lief, that  in  this  system  all  that  is  good  and  necessary 
in  elementary  training,  is  condensed  and  con- 
centrated into  the  smallest  possible  compass.  It  is 
accessible  to  all.  A  very  few  books  comparatively, 
and  at  a  moderate  price,  contain  the  instruments  and 
tools  and  exercises  of  the  whole  discipline.  These 
books  are  so  arranged,  that  without  making  educa- 
tion for  children  a  thing  to  be  eaten  as  gingerbread, 
or  sucked  as  sugar-candy,  the  first  parts  are  level 
with  the  understanding  of  very  young  children  ;  or 
rather,  while  exciting  curiosity  and  exercising  inge- 
nuity from  the  first,  the  system  follows  the  order  of 
nature — it  begins  with  memory  rather  than  judg- 
ment— it  is  addressed  to  faith  rather  than  reason. 

Subjects  suited  for  foundation  studies  are,  indeed, 


THE  SCIENCE,  OR  THE  END  OF  TKACFIING.  -75 

ill  the  English,  but  so  scattered  over  many  works  as 
to  be  rarely  available  to  schools.  Nor  is  it  probable 
such  can  or  will  be  so  reduced  and  arranged  as  to 
serve  school  purposes  :  the  difficult  would  yet  be 
too  difficult,  the  easy  too  easy.  Boys  never  stop  to 
chop  the  logic  lor  themselves,  when,  in  text-books  in 
their  own  language,  it  is  already  chopped  and  dried 
to  their  hand.  The  medium  of  another,  and  espe- 
cially of  a  dead  and  ancient  language,  is  impera- 
tively necessary,  to  make  the  pupils  pause,  and  by 
self-exertion,  dig  out  the  hidden  sense,  like  a  valua- 
ble ore,  from  the  logical  arrangement  and  connec- 
tions. So  far  from  removing  hindrances  to  the  most 
rapid  progress,  such  as  that  progress  is,  we  wish 
just  that  amount  of  impediment  in  elementary  studies 
which  is  interposed  by  the  dead  languages.  To 
translate  them,  or  make  them  too  easy  by  notes, 
destroys  the  languages  as  instruments  and  tools,  and 
debases  them  into  "  the  knowledges."  Aijainst  this 
spirit  of  the  age  in  making  everything  plain,  easy, 
captivating — truth  so  like  fiction — we  earnestly  pro- 
test, and  as  loudly  as  one  voice  can  cry.  A  child 
fed  on  sweetmeats  and  tid-bits,  turns  from  plain  and 
wholesome  fare ;  one  ever  carried  in  the  nurse's 
arms,  will  have  no  use  of  its  legs :  so  boys,  trained 
as  hundreds  are,  cannot  but  shrink  from  difficult 
studies,  however  important,  and  can  have  no  relish 
for  truth,  unless  it  be  also  entertaining  and  exciting. 
Many  an  indolent  boy  and  mistaken  parent  prefer 
that  teacher,  who  tells,  and  explains,  and  carries  the 
boy  gently  in  his  bosom,  over  rugged  and  ill-looking 
places ;  but  they  should  for  that  very  reason  reject 


rjQ  CIIArTER  IT. 

the  teacher.  The  boy  thus  put  out  to  the  dry  nurse, 
will  be  a  baby  forever.  His  mind  is  ruined.  The 
teacher  should  be  prosecuted  for  an  incurable  dam- 
age. 

For  some  twenty  or  thirty  years  past,  a  popular 
current  has  been  running  against  the  study  of  the 
dead  languages.  The  age  that  has  no  patience  to 
allow  seed  sufficient  time  to  vegetate  and  strike 
root  before  it  asks  for  the  fruit ;  that  craves  knowl- 
edge first,  and  travels  up  the  stream  to  the  fountain- 
head  of  principles ;  that  props  a  roof,  hangs  down 
walls,  and  then  underlays  the  foundation ;  that,  ad- 
vancing backward  like  craw-fish,  reverses  the 
natural  order,  so  as  to  learn  pictures  first,  then 
things,  words,  and  letters,  has  no  need  for  a  class 
of  studies  so  opposite  as  the  ancient  languages. 
And  yet  very  little  knowledge  of  Greek  jests,  (who 
had  their  Hibernian  bulls,)  would  show  some  that 
their  boasted  philosophy  is  but  the  revival  of  an  old 
theory,  and  that  long  ago  men  lived,  who  had  re- 
solved never  to  enter  the  deep  waters  until  they  had 
learned  to  swim ! 

All  objections  against  the  old  system,  that  it  is  too 
difficult,  too  tedious,  too  abstract,  grant  its  peculiar 
adaptedness  to  intellectual  discipline  ;  while  these 
objections  admit,  in  advocating  the  easier,  if  not 
shorter  methods,  that  the  mass  of  men  is  weak  and 
selfish.  Instead  of  elevating  men  by  severe  disci- 
pline, we  thus  depress  education  to  their  baseness  ! 
This  is  levelling  down  and  not  up.  Sometimes 
great  progress  seems,  indeed,  at  first  to  be  made, 
when  rough  places  of  learning  are  smoothed,  its 


THE  SCIENCE,   OR  THE  END  OF   TEACHING.  -y-y 

mountains  levelled,  its  valleys  raised,  for  the  con- 
struction of  the  educational  railway  ;  but  usually 
the  progress  is  about  the  same  as  that  of  the  child 
taught  to  spell  by  pictures,  or  "  things,"  as  the  book 
said,  instead  of  the  primitive,  roundabout  way — the 
sounds  of  letters  themselves.  "  What  does  that 
spell,  dear  ?"  said  the  father,  covering  the  picture 
with  one  hand,  and  pointing  with  the  other  to  the 
name  printed  in  capital  letters  below.  "Cow,"  was 
the  immediate  answer.  ''  Why,  how  do  you  know  ?" 
"  I  see  the  legs." 

In  many  places  the  dead  languages  are  profess- 
edly studied.  But  there  is  reason  to  say,  that  while 
in  a  few  colleges  and  academies  efforts  are  made  to 
retain,  or  restore,  the  severe  and  rigorous  method  of 
learning  them,  or  at  least  to  resist  farther  innova- 
tions, yet  in  most  schools  the  mode  of  going  over — 
studying  it  cannot  be  called — of  going  over  the 
classics,  is  tantamount  to  an  utter  abandonment  of 
the  languages  as  a  discipline.  This  aggravates  ex- 
isting evils,  for  many  obvious  reasons,  and  is  a  dis- 
paragement of  these  very  studies.  If  not  used  as  a 
discipline,  the  dead  languages  should  be  icholly 
ahandoned  as  a  school  study.  Unless  as  a  discipline, 
the  time  is  worse  than  W'asted  that  is  bestowed. 
The  knowledge  gained  by  a  proper  and  severe 
study  of  the  languages  is  very  great ;  but  the 
knowledge  acquired  by  the  superhcial  method  is 
contemptibly  small  :  if  knowledge  only  is  the  end 
of  education,  either  let  the  classics  be  rigorously 
studied  as  a  discipline,  or  at  once  entirely  aban- 
doned.    All   superficial   schools  and  schoolmasters 


78  CHAPTER  II. 

are,  here,  an  unspeakably  great  nuisance — nay,  if 
the  paper  were  stained  with  nameless  epithets, 
such  epithets  would  not  be  unjust. 

Pupils  do,  verily,  go  over  the  whole  course,  and 
beyond  too  ;  but,  as  tourists  frequently  go  over  a 
whole  country  and  into  the  adjacent  parts,  in  cars 
and  steamboats,  such  pupils  can  only  say  a  jour- 
ney has  been  taken.  Jn  the  mind  of  the  one,  is 
a  dreamlike  jumble  of  streaming  fences,  and  patches 
of  grass,  with  human  faces,  mountains,  tavern-bills, 
hissing  steam,  ice-cream,  boot-jacks  and  oyster  pies  ! 
In  the  mind  of  the  other  is  a  mixture  of  Cicero  with 
Helvetians,  and,  Csesar  with  Latin  verbs,  and  De- 
mosthenes with  the  first  declension  ! 

The  mania  for  simplifying — to  coin  a  word,  for 
baUfying — rages  here,  as  in  other  parts  or  systems 
of  education.  Copious  dictionaries  are  rendered 
more  copious,  and  easy  ones  still  easier  !  nay,  every 
author  has  prepared  for  him  specially,  a  special  dic- 
tionary, till  a  lexicon  nearly  equals  a  translation. 
Indeed,  the  notes  to  many  books,  with  the  diction- 
ary, are  both  a  literal  and  free  translation.  Often, 
too,  translations  are  furnished,  some  in  appendices, 
some  in  separate  books,  and  some  interlined  !  An- 
alytical and  synthetical  written  exercises — that  in- 
dispensable tool  in  strengthening  the  mind  and  en- 
larging all  its  powers — are  rare.  Few,  very  few 
graduates  of  colleges  can  put  even  the  Latin  words 
of  Mair's  Syntax  into  proper  construction  ;  and  not 
one  in  a  thousand  can  make  English  sentences  into 
Latin.  Graduates  who  take  first  honors  pay  a  price 
for  Latin  salutatories !  and  students  of  divinity  beg 


THE  SCIENCE,   OK  THE   E.NU  vF  TEACHLNU.  ■^y 

and  borrow  Latin  exegeses  !     Examination  is  a  form 
— perhaps  an  hypocrisy — certainly  a  farce  ! 

None  but  invincible  difficulties,  and  obstacles  in- 
surmountable, should,  in  school-books,  be  lessened 
and  removed  ;  and  tkese  should  be  so  done  that  the 
instrument  of  removal  should  itself  require  mental 
labor  to  work  it.  Let  it  be  a  lever — but  not  self- 
acting  ;  let  it  be  like  a  pump-handle,  at  which  the 
condemned  criminal  must  diligently  labor  or  be 
drowned.  Be  it  constantly  remembered,  that  it  is  an 
inwrought,  deep-seated  habit  of  studying,  and  think- 
ing, and  working,  that  is  wanted — a  habit  not  to  be 
eradicated — a  habit  or  state,  that  can  be  destroyed 
only  by  the  annihilation  of  the  soul  !  We  know  that 
we  are  behind  the  age,  and  yet,  not  that  we  cannot 
catch  up — it  is  because  we  will  not  try ;  and  hence, 
at  the  hazard  of  being  pitied,  we  aver,  and,  shame- 
less, confess,  that  the  Latin  ordo,  the  Latin  notes, 
and  the  Latin  defniitions,  in  Greek  lexicons,  is  a  bet- 
ter way  to  learn  the  dead  languages,  and  to  become 
thoroughly  disciplined  in  a  thousand  ways,  than  any 
of  the  improved  methods,  from  Hamilton  to  Arnold  ! 

Let  it,  however,  be  specially  noted,  our  remarks 
all  refer  to  school-books.  In  these  knowledge  is 
not  the  main  end — we  use  them  for  discipline.  But 
in  after  life,  when  we  use  Latin  and  Greek  authors 
for  literary  purposes,  we  may  seek  for  aid  in  all 
quarters  ;  knowledge  is  now  wanted.  Here  we  re- 
quire copious  dictionaries,  and  all  kinds  of  note,  com- 
ment, and  opinions  and  conjectures.  The  wants  of 
the  school-boy  during  his  elementary  training,  and 
the  wants  of  the  man  in  his  profession  as  a  literary 


80  CHAPTER  n. 

man,  are  totally  different.  Many  recent  works  are 
almost  priceless  in  value  to  the  man  of  literature, 
that  are  a  bane  to  the  school-boy.  The  learned  au- 
thors meant  well,  but  they  have  done  disciplinary 
education  no  service. 

Thus  far  the  course  advocated  has  been  consid- 
ered in  its  disciplinary  character  only  ;  and  in  this  it 
would  be  of  incalculable  value,  even  if  no  knowledge 
were  acqufred,  and,  like  the  gymnasium  and  its  ap- 
paratus, it  were  laid  aside  after  having  answered  its 
elementary  purposes  ;  but  very  extensive  and  very 
important  knowledge,  and  exact  and  permanent,  by 
the  difficulty  of  its  acquirement,  is  attained  during 
the  study  of  the  dead  languages.  Grammar,  in  its 
widest  sense,  history,  geography,  astronomy,  archi- 
tecture, polity,  war,  manners,  gardening — in  short, 
everything  of  the  ancient  world,  its  philosophies, 
arts,  religions,  may  be  named  as  subjects,  of  which 
knowledge  must,  of  necessity,  be  gained.  And  until 
it  is  shown  that  the  history  of  the  past  is  useless  to 
any  present  age,  we  may  avail  ourselves  of  the 
knowledge  acquired,  as  a  collateral  argument  in  fa- 
vor of  our  educational  system.  But  the  important 
consideration  here  is,  that  a  disciplined  mind  can  add 
to  its  ancient  stock,  all  modern  knowledge  in  much 
less  time  than  the  undisciplined  mind.  For  instance, 
a  good  classical  scholar  can  learn,  as  far  as  the  read- 
ing of  books  is  concerned,  any  modern  European 
language  in  a  few  months ;  sometimes  in  a  few  weeks ; 
sometimes  in  a  few  days.  Languages,  like  the  Span- 
ish, Portuguese,  Italian  and  French,  he  can  read, 
with  a  grammar  and  dictionary,  almost  at  sight. 


THE  SCIENCE,   OR  THE  E.ND  OF  TEACHING.  gj 

Things,  too,  regarded  as  studies,  he  looks  on  as  read- 
ing, and  uses  as  recreations  ;  such  as  botany,  physi- 
ology, natural  history,  mineralogy,  chemistry,  his- 
tory, antiquities.  He  sports,  too,  with  some  things 
the  undisciplined  fear — logic  and  metaphysics.  The 
true  secret  of  immense  learning  lies  in  the  entire 
mastery  of  some  grand  principles ;  and  persons 
rigorously  and  unsparingly  disciplined  in  youth,  are 
nearly  the  only  persons  that  have  that  mastery. 
And  such  have  a  foundation  of  broad  and  immove- 
able rock,  and  upon  that  they  may  build  wide  and 
high  ;  their  superstructure  will  stand. 

Some  parents  resolve  to  give  their  children  a  clas- 
sical education ;  but,  after  they  have  received  an 
English  education.  If  what  we  have  written  be 
understood,  such  parents  can  scarcely  fail  to  see, 
that  this  distinction  between  educations,  classical 
and  English,  is  an  error.  Education  is  but  one.  It 
is  partial,  however,  and  complete.  If  it  comprise 
the  classics  it  is  complete  ;  and,  therefore,  it  has  its 
beginning  as  well  as  its  ending  ;  and  that  beginning 
is  in  the  languages  themselves,  or  rather  in  the  La- 
tin. In  case,  therefore,  any  parent  has  determined 
on  the  complete  course,  every  hour's  delay  in  be* 
ginning  with  the  Latin,  after  the  child  shall  have 
learned  to  read  and  spell  fluently,  to  write  an  ordi- 
narily good  hand,  and  to  commit  with  some  readi- 
ness to  memory,  is  worse  than  lost.  Spelling,  read- 
ing, writing,  arithmetic,  English  grammar,  and  geog- 
raphy— add,  also,  composition  and  speaking — these 
are  considered  as  elementary  English  studies.  Now, 
experience  here  abundantly  shows  that  the  great 


82  CHAPTER   II. 

majority  of  mere  English  pupils,  after  years  of  seem- 
ingly assiduous  attention,  and  with  good  and  com- 
petent teachers,  rarely  become  fluent  and  thorough 
in  these  branches;  tha  pupils  reach  a  certain  point, 
and  there  they  remain,  and  usually  in  utter  disgust  at 
all  schools,  schoolmasters,  and  school-books  !  Ama- 
teurs in  music,  who  play  by  ear,  or  learn  from  a 
book,  advance  thus,  with  flute,  piano,  or  violin,  to  a 
certain  inferior  grade  of  skill,  and  then,  like  a  bird 
that  builds  its  nest  the  same  every  year,  these  ama- 
teurs play  forever  one  tune  !  Doubtless,  many  com- 
petent classical  teachers  fail  here  ;  yet  these  may 
so  order  matters,  as  hundreds  have  done,  that  all 
the  elementary  English  studies,  and  many  studies  of 
higher  character,  provided  parents  will  have  pa- 
tience, and  will  aid  in  the  attempt,  shall  be  entirely 
mastered  by  the  time  the  elementary  classical  dis- 
cipline is  ended. 

The  mind  finds  relaxation  in  turning  aside  a  few 
hours  daily  from  the  severity  of  the  disciplinary 
studies  to  the  lighter  English  branches.  Hence, 
with  comparatively  little  labor,  such  branches  are 
pursued  at  the  same  time,  while  the  mind,  without 
*being  rendered  indolent,  thus  returns  with  fresh 
vigor  to  the  main  study  of  the  school.  And  thus,  in 
the  same  time,  and  for  one  price,  the  pupils  are  prop- 
erly educated,  and  acquire  all  the  English  ordinarily 
acquired  by  other  boys,  who,  during  that  period, 
pursue  English  branches  only. 

So  confident  is  the  writer,  from  experience,  that 
such  is  the  case,  that  he  is  sometimes  tempted  to 
imitate  nostrum-doctors,  and  to  offer,  provided  there 


TIfE  SCIENCE,   OR  THE   END  OF   TEACHINCJ.  gg 

be  no  interference  with  the  course  of  learning,  to 
refund  all  the  tuition  fees,  if  boys,  during  the  classi. 
cal  course,  shall  not  have  studied,  and  studied  bet- 
ter all  the  branches  of  English  pursued  in  the  same 
time  by  boys  of  like  age  and  capacity. 

Every  consideration,  therefore,  of  economy  and 
utility,  is  in  favor  of  the  system  of  elementary  edu- 
cation recommended  ;  and  we  may  here  conclude 
the  subject. 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE    TOOLS    AND    INSTRUMENTS. 

No  error  is  more  mischievous  than  to  mistake 
illustration  for  argument,  and  yet  no  error  is  more 
frequent.  Illustration  does  no  more  than  place  what 
is  to  be  considered  in  a  sufficient  light ;  but,  when 
placed  in  that  light,  what  before  was  deemed  truth, 
may  be  discovered  to  be  falsehood.  Analogy  is  thus 
a  fruitful  source  of  error.  Often  one  thing  resem- 
bles another  in  but  a  single  respect ;  in  other  re- 
spects the  things  may  differ  greatly  ;  they  may  even 
be,  in  some  respects,  opposites.  But  from  the  strong 
resemblance  in  one  point,  it  is  hastily  concluded  the 
subjects  may  agree  in  all  ;  and  by  applying  the 
same  rules  to  both,  the  results  in  practice  must,  of 
necessity,  disappoint  expectation. 

The  teacher  is  an  artist.  As  a  workman  he, 
therefore,  needs  tools,  and  tools  must  be  made  for 
every  branch  of  his  business.  A  skilful  artisan, 
moreover,  prefers  patent  tools — instruments  so  in- 
geniously contrived  that  a  boy  may  do  the  work 
of  a  man,  and  the  daily  labor  of  a  man  equal  the 
labor  of  a  week.  The  work,  too,  by  such  instru- 
ments, is  better  done.  It  is  done,  also,  at  less  cost. 
How  natural  the  transfer  of  all  that  pertains  to  the 


Till:  TOOLS  AND   INSTRUMEiNTS.  fjtj 

instruments  of  one  workman  to  the  instruments  of 
the  other !  The  teaclier  must  have  tools  not  only 
suitable,  but  so  ingeniously  designed  that  by  their  aid 
he  may  employ  an  apprentice,  and  turn  out  scholars 
in  a  few  months,  that,  by  the  use  of  old-fashioned 
tools,  could  not,  by  the  master  himself,  be  manufac- 
tured in  as  many  years  !  Nay,  his  tools  judiciously 
used,  and  in  favorable  circumstances,  will  j)cr  se 
work  up  his  raw  material  into  the  best  fabrics  ! — 
and  education  may  be  done  almost  by  the  yard,  and 
nearly  as  cheap  as  domestic  cottons  ! 

That  school-books  differ,  and  may  be  classed  as 
good  and  bad.  no  man  doubts;  that  a  teacher  will 
prefer  the  better  to  the  worse,  is  self-evident ;  but 
that  any  book,  or  series  of  books,  can  obviate  the 
necessity  of  a  teacher's  direct  efforts,  and  the  skil- 
ful employment  of  his  genius  and  talents,  is  the  blun- 
der of  many  book-makers,  and  of  not  a  few  teachers 
themselves. 

The  excellency  of  a  school  depends,  not  mainly, 
but  icholly,  upon  the  teacher.  One  competent  and 
laithful  master,  with  books  illy  prepared  or  with  no 
books,  is  worth  many  incompetent  teachers,  aided 
by  the  best  contrived  books  and  systems.  The 
army  of  stags,  with  a  lion  for  general,  can  chase  the 
army  of  lions,  with  a  stag  at  the  head  !  An  honest 
mechanic,  with  proper  instruments,  and  by  Implicit 
obedience  to  his  directions,  must  when  diligent  turn 
out  work  not  a  whit  inferior  to  work  done  by  me- 
chanics greatly  his  superior  in  talents  and  ingenuity, 
who  use  the  same  instruments  or  apparatus :  the 
machinery  would,  in   fact,  perform  the  same  with 


gg  CH^U'TER  111. 

any  attendant ;  it  can  but  act  well,  if  it  move  at  all  [ 
Gunpowder  eciualizes  powers  :  a  dwarf  and  a  giant 
would  fire  a  cannon  equally  well — the  ball  strikes 
with  the  same  force,  whoever  may  be  at  the  touch- 
hole  ! 

This  is  not  so  with  books  and  boys  !  J\''o  school- 
book  has  any  intrinsic  force  which  will  always  exert 
itself  in  the  same  direction,  as  soon  as  it  is  opened 
and  read,  or  even  studied.  The  book  does  what 
the  master  intends,  not  what  the  author  designs  or 
wishes.  And  the  boy,  be  well  assured,  ye  theoreti- 
cal gentlemen,  that  have  never  wielded  the  ruler, 
nor  flourished  the  birch,  and  yet  teach  by  book — be 
assured,  the  boy  is  not  that  pliant,  non-resisting  ma- 
terial that  runs  into  one  grooved  aperture  a  shape- 
less mass,  and,  transformed  by  some  hidden  power, 
runs  directly  from  some  other  smaller  aperture,  a 
ready-made  man  and  scholar !  No  ;  verily,  if  like  any- 
thing mechanically  wrought,  he  is  like  a  mass  of  rough 
iron  in  the  potent  grasp  of  a  blacksmith's  tongs' 
He  needs  many  a  heat  in  a  furnace,  and  many  a 
twist  and  twirl,  and  many  a  hard  knock  from  a  dex- 
terous hand,  before  he  is  transmuted,  and  before  he 
will  remain  changed  ! 

Boys  differ  in  a  thousand  ways — in  age,  intellect, 
temper,  industry,  health,  don'iestic  training,  and  ex- 
ample and  excitement :  wind,  rain,  sunshine,  sum- 
mer, winter — all  affect  them  !  No  classification  can 
possibly  comprise  individuals  alike,  save  in  a  very 
few  general  features  !  Children  cannot  be  thrown 
as  one  sort  of  grain  into  a  mill,  and  ground  as  the 
same  grist ! 


THE   TOOLS    AND   INSTRUMENTS.  Q>y 

V^-y  many  either  will  not,  or  cannot,  perceive 
the  truth  on  this  point.  Failure  is  repeatedly  attrib- 
uted to  the  want  of  certain  books,  and  forms,  and 
systems ;  when  almost  invariably  the  failure  is  ow- 
ing to  the  want  of  the  riyht  kind  of  teachers.  But 
renewed  failures  only  tempt  fresh  inventors — if  such 
they  may  be  called — to  contrive  new  books,  or, 
more  frequently,  to  alter  old  ones ;  and  then,  with 
the  most  adhesive  obstinacy,  to  insist  with  teachers 
on  a  trial !  Unworthy  motives  are  not  necessarily 
to  be  suspected  or  attributed  to  all  such  book-makers  ; 
yet  it  is  manifest  that  many  people,  neither  original 
authors  nor  practical  teachers,  are  directly  and  indi- 
rectly interested  pecuniarily  in  the  production  of 
school-books.  And  the  enormous  prices  such  can 
aflbrd  to  pay  for  newspaper  advertisements  and  edi- 
torials, is  presumptive  proof  that  the  business  is  not 
wholly  profitless.  The  columns  of  advertisements 
paid  for  by  the  year,  in  several  leading  papers  at 
the  same  time,  is  a  pretty  fair  index  that  a  nostrum- 
doctor  finds  sales  for  his  pills  and  plasters  ;  and  yet, 
from  the  frightful  increase  of  panaceists,  diseases  of 
the  most  deadly  character,  and  in  spite  of  the  infal- 
lible cures,  seem  to  be  multiplying  !  So'many  of  a 
trade  could  not  make  fortunes  if  the  diseases  were 
all  stayed  or  eradicated.  Nostrum-book  doctors 
augur  badly  for  the  health  of  learning  ! 

Happy  for  the  world,  that  the  cause  of  education 
is  prominent  ar.ong  the  great  causes  of  the  age  ! 
As  a  natural  consequence,  school-books  become  ob- 
jects of  intense  interest.  Scholars,  liberal  and  ele- 
gant, moralists  the  most  severe,  and   philosophers 


88 


CHAPTER  III. 


the  most  profound,  have  all  lent  assistance  4n  the 
writing  and  arranging  of  school-books ;  and,  there- 
fore, it  cannot  be  wonderful  that  works  of  great 
excellence,  in  every  department  of  elementary  edu- 
cation, abound.  But,  while  improvement  here  may 
have  been  needed,  and  while  improvement  may  have 
been  made,  yet  improvement  in  the  artist  or  teacher 
himself  would  have  done  more  for  education  than 
any  improvement  in  his  instruments  of  teaching. 
Had  many  eminent  men,  instead  of  writing  school- 
books,  betaken  themselves  to  teaching  school-books  ; 
or,  if  they  had  not,  for  the  sake  of  writing,  aban- 
doned teaching,  schools  would  have  been  still 
better. 

Of  the  two  sorts  of  learned  men  who  make  school- 
books,  they  who  have  been  teachers  must  be  certainly 
the  better  qualified  for  the  task.  However  learned, 
if  the  authors  have  had  little  practical  acquaintance 
with  teaching,  and  almost  invariably,  if  they  have 
had  no  acquaintance,  their  books  become  mere  store- 
houses of  knowledge.  But  if  a  school-book  contain 
all  the  principles  and  rules  of  a  subject,  literary  or 
scientific,  that  is  a  good  book,  although  it  give  no 
knowledge  beyond  what  is  essential  for  illustration 
and  praxis.  Any  knowledge  beyond  is  not  essen- 
tial to  the  purpose  of  the  book.  Yet,  not  very  rarely, 
while  the  principles  are  all  in  the  book,  they  are  so 
inartistically  involved  with  the  mass  of  mere  learn- 
ing as  to  defy  being  disentangled.  The  book  is  a 
valuable  book,  but  it  is  a  bad  school-book. 

We  have  hear^  it  said  of  a  crabbed  and  petulant 
old  man,  "  He  forgets  that  he  was  ever  a  bov."     So 


THE  TOOLS    AND   INSTRUMENTS. 


89 


it  is  with  some  authors  of  school-books.  They  for- 
get how  their  soul  loathed  a  text-book  overloaded 
with  notes,  observations,  comments  and  exceptions. 
They  forget  that  they  never  voluntarily  read  such, 
and  that  if  the  master  wished  to  find  exceptions,  and 
learned  annotations,  he  might  look  for  them  himself. 
They  forget  how,  again  and  again,  master  and 
scholar  were  alike  bewildered  in  a  thorny  wilderness 
of  endless  annotations,  laced  and  tangled  with  subor- 
dinate note  and  comment,  and  exception  to  excep- 
tion, and  blackened  with  daggers,  single  and  double, 
and  paragraphs,  sections,  parentheses,  dashes,  brack- 
ets, till  rule  and  exception  struggled  for  the  guid- 
ance, and  comment  seemed  of  more  importance 
than  the  principle  it  explained !  Or,  perhaps,  an 
author,  remembering  all  this,  determines  to  be 
avenged  on  another  generation  !  perhaps,  remem- 
bering how,  in  some  idle  urchin's  dog-eared  book, 
he  had  turned  from  page  to  page,  till  somewhere 
near  the  starting-point  he  found  written,  "  A  fool 
for  your  pains !"  Thus  a  malicious  author  sends 
boys  turning  through  his  whole  volume,  by  means 
of  references,  from  spot  to  spot,  till  he  finds  what 
he  wants,  and  that  a  wonderfully  small  needle  in  an 
amazingly  large  haystack ! 

Some  authors  cannot  be  said  to  overlook  the  main 
intention  of  a  school-book,  for  the  books  made  by 
them  are  designed  to  display  their  own  reading  ; 
and  a  text-book  is  a  convenient  nucleus  around 
which  to  heap  all  they  know.  These  men  cart  and 
wheel  whole  masses  of  learning  from  the  great 
quarries  of  ponderous  folios,  and  empty  load  after 


90  CHAPTER  III. 

load  in  tliis  and  that  spot  ;  here  and  there  heaping 
up  piles  of  unwrought  bullion;  and  every  now  and 
then  scattering  gems  of  value  ;  in  certain  stations 
placing  indices  to  direct  one's  search  to  different 
heaps  of  the  stolen  treasures  ! 

Widely  and  loudly  vaunted  are  books  and  sys- 
tems of  instruction  built  on  the  principle  of  induc- 
tion. But,  vv^hile  something  may  be  conceded  in 
favor  of  arithmetic  and  algebra,  arranged  in  books 
on  that  principle,  yet,  with  due  deference  to  the  in- 
ductive authors,  induction  belongs  to  the  man  and 
not  to  the  boy.  Boys  are  made  to  be  directed  and 
governed  in  an  elementary  course  of  education  ;  and 
it  is  a  matter  of  very  little  consequence  either  in 
itself,  or  to  the  boys,  whether  the  process  of  induc- 
tion, on  which  rules  and  principles  are  formde  for 
their  incipient  guidance,  be  understood  or  not. 
Rule  and  authority  are  admitted  by  young  persons, 
and  generally  they  are  indifferent  to  their  reasons. 
The  attempt  to  show  their  foundation  is  uncalled- 
for — it  not  unfrequently  unsettles  the  children's 
faith !  The  master  who  begged  the  king  to  remain 
uncovered  in  his  school,  while  the  master  himself 
retained  his  own  hat,  that  the  pupils  might  think  no 
one  in  the  kingdom  superior  to  their  teacher,  well 
understood  the  nature  of  boys  ;  and  his  boys  consid- 
ered him  superior  to  all  inductions — his  word  was 
their  law.  And  they  knew  that  whatever  he  en- 
joined was  founded  in  reason,  and  that,  in  due  sea- 
son, they  would  fully  understand  what  was  now 
childlike,  received  in  faith. 

The  application  of  the  inductive  method  in  form- 


TIIE  TOOLS    ANT)    INSTRUMENTS. 


91 


iiig  some  school-books,  such  as  grammars,  rhetorics, 
and  the  hke,  is  preposterous.  And  where^^ss  pre- 
posterous, the  parade  of  facts  before  resting  down 
in  the  rule,  is  an  egregious  trifling — an  affectation 
of  philosophy,  eminently  disgustful.  And  how, 
pray,  do  young  persons,  especially  children,  better 
vmderstand  by  studying  examples  and  illustrations 
before  the  rule,  than  after  the  rule  ?  And  that  is,  in 
most  schools,  the  amount  of  the  inductive  method. 
What  is  this  but  the  fulfilment  of  the  vulgar  pro- 
verb— "  The  cart  before  the  horse  ?"  True — the 
boy  who  sees  the  cart  may  infer  the  horse  j  but  what 
advantage  is  this,  beyond  the  natural  way  of  infer- 
ring the  vehicle  from  the  quadruped  ?  This  is  un- 
shackling the  mind  !  forsooth.  This  is  breaking 
away  from  the  tyranny  of  authority  !  This  is  the 
light  of  "  seven  suns"  in  one  day  !  Courage — .ye 
priest-ridden  !  modern  philosophy  will  soon  publish 
the  ten  commandments,  with  an  illuminated  page  of 
induction  ;  and  then  shall  ye  see  the  reasonableness 
of  the  divine  will  !  And  then,  when  the  reasona- 
bleness of  virtue  is  seen,  all  rational  persons  will  of 
necessity  become  virtuous  ! 

In  the  rage  for  induction,  old  land-marks  in  school- 
books  are  all  removed.  Nothing  is  to  be  taken  for 
granted,  except  the  assumptions,  often,  in  the  induc- 
tion itself;  even  where  the  rule  is  as  plain  as  any- 
thing else,  perhaps  plainer.  Is  "  I  think,  therefore, 
I  exist,"  better  than,  "  I  exist,  therefore,  I  think?'' 
In  which  is  less  assumption — "  Twice  one  is  two," 
or — "  Two  is  one  and  another  one?"     To  a  child 


02  CIIAPTEH   Ilf. 

two  is  two  without  either  formula ;  and  perhaps  an 
extensive  induction  would  start  a  doubt  whether 
two  were  not  something  else ;  as  one  by  a  labored 
proof  of  iiis  existence  will  come  to  have  logical 
doubts  whether  he  either  thinks  or  exists  !  In  all 
things,  we  need  a  starting-point — a  fulcrum  for  a 
lever  ;  and  that,  in  school-books,  are  rules  and  prin- 
ciples which  the  teacher  knows  are  the  embodiment 
of  truth.  Children  confide  in  his  judgment ;  and 
that  confidence  is  necessary  to  their  improvement. 

In  some  books  the  inductive  process  is  by  piece- 
meal !  The  disjecta  membra  of  a  little  plain  rule 
are  scattered  over  a  dozen  pages ;  as  if  one  took 
delight  in  tearing  the  picture  of  a  baby  to  pieces, 
to  show  how  skilfully  and  anatomically  it  could  all 
be  constructed  again,  somewhere  in  the  middle  of 
a  l^ook,  as  w^ell  as  if  never  so  ruthlessly  torn ! 
True,  the  boy  saw,  at  first,  it  was  a  baby ;  but  how 
could  he  be  sure  it  was,  unless  he  examined  a  foot 
on  one  page,  and  a  hand  on  another,  and  came  to 
the  baby  again  by  induction  ?  The  first  declension, 
or  the  first  conjugation  in  the  Latin  grammar,  as 
either  exists  in  all  the  ordinary  methods,  is  short, 
easy,  perspicuous,  and  to  almost  every  child  of  the 
usual  capacity,  so  great  a  novelty,  as  to  be  learned 
with  pleasure — sometimes  to  be  devoured  with 
avidity  ;  and  yet  in  Arnold's  system,  this  brief  and 
pleasant  unit  is  cut  up  and  scattered  into  a  dozen 
little  bits  ! — and  each  bit  is  made  a  bitter  pill,  coated 
with  sugar  ;  as  if  it  could  not  be  swallowed  other- 
wise without  effort !     And  then,  when  all  the  parts 


THK  TOOLS  AXD  INSTRUMENTS. 


03 


arc  separately  swallowed,  the  poor  child  finds,  ncv- 
ertiieles.-?,  that  the  whole  must  yet  be  swallowed  at 
once  ! 

We  are  told  that  such  systems  are  agreeable  to 
the  order  of  nature  ;  and  that  in  a  given  time  more 
is  learned  and  better  than  in  the  usual  methods. 

The  order  of  nature  begins  with  the  memory, 
and  exercises  that,  almost  exclusively,  for  years. 
One's  own  native  tongue  is  simply  heard  and  re- 
membered, as  far  as  words  are  concerned.  A  child 
imitates  and  remembers  any  sounds  of  articulate 
speech.  But  his  style  and  the  extent  of  his  vocab- 
ulary depend  upon  accident.  .  He  talks  almost  like  a 
parrot,  precisely  as  he  hears.  He  learns  sounds, 
or  words,  proper  or  improper  ;  and  provided  the  ut- 
terance, in  any  way,  of  such  sounds  answers  his  ex- 
pectations, and  procures  what  is  needed,  and  keeps 
off  what  he  fears,  he  is  satisfied.  Of  grammar  and 
logic  he  learns  nothing,  he  cares  nothing ;  and  for 
all  the  ordinary  purposes  of  life  he  need  neither 
know  nor  care  anything.  The  vocabulary  of  very 
many  adults  comprises  not  more  than  two  or  three 
hundred  words  !  Some  men  do  not  use  more  than 
a  hundred  nouns  and  verbs  in  all  their  lives  !  and 
these  are  mis-pronounced,  mis-spelled,  and  con- 
structed according  to  a  syntax  of  their  own — an 
idiosyncratic  grammar,  whose  figures  of  speech 
consist  in  earnest  gesticulation  and  motions  of  the 
face,  to  render  intelligible  what  it  is  suspected  the 
words  en>j)loyed  have  failed  to  make  plain. 

If  we  would  teach  beyond  this,  it  must  be  by 
teaching  principles  and  giving  rules.     It  matters  not 


g^  CHAPTER  III. 

whether  orally,  or  otherwise,  little  of  our  native 
tongue,  beyond  the  point  just  named,  is  acquired 
without  rules  and  lessons.  Much,  indeed,  is  learned 
by  children  without  rules  and  lessons ;  but  it  bears 
only  a  small  proportion  compared  with  what  is 
learned  of  the  true  nature  and  genius  of  the  lan- 
guage, in  the  same  time,  with  these  helps. 

But  whatever  may  be  learned  of  the  language  by 
imitation  and  mere  memory,  here  is  a  very  great 
difference :  we  learn  Latin  through  the  medium  of 
our  own  language  ;  we  learn  our  own  without  a 
medium.  To  imitate  nature  fairly,  our  knowledge 
of  English  should  be  entirely  obliterated,  and  we 
should  then  be  placed  in  a  Latin  atmosphere  !  And 
what  would  even  then  be  gained  ?  Do  we  wish  to 
talk,  and  read,  and  write  in  Latin,  the  first  thing  ? 
And  if  we  did  all  this  from  imitation  and  memory,  we 
should  be  no  better  acquainted  with  the  philosophy 
and  logic  of  the  language  than  myriads  of  others  are 
with  the  nature  of  the  English.  Notwithstanding  as- 
sertion to  the  contrary,  children — English  children — 
taught  to  talk,  and  read,  and  write  Latin,  by  English 
teachers,  in  the  way  recently  proposed  as  the  order  of 
nature,  will  be  inferior  to  other  children  taught  in  the 
usual  way,  of  equal  age  and  capacity,  and  equal  ad- 
vantages, in  the  same  time.  The  time  should,  how- 
ever, not  be  less  than  what  is  mutually  agreed  upon  as 
a  reasonable  period  for  the  mastery  of  the  language  ; 
for  while  superiority  does  belong  to  any  time,  how- 
ever short,  that  superiority  could  not  be  made  appa- 
rent to  others,  in  the  shortest  time.  In  a  race  the 
victorious  horse  is  for  one  or  two  rounds,  often,  ap- 


THE  TOOLS   AM)   INSTRUMENTS.  gg 

parently  beat  ;  the  advance  at  the  coming-out  de- 
termines the  victory. 

This  order  of  nature,  as  it  is  called,  does  well 
with  pupils  who  have  thoroughly  mastered  one  an- 
cient language.  Such  carry  with  them  the  instru- 
ments of  mastering  almost  any  other  language  ;  and 
it  would  be  folly,  indeed,  to  forego  their  advantages 
for  the  sake  of  beginning  every  time  at  the  begin- 
ning. Many  things  are  altogether  proper  for  adults, 
which  would  be  unsuitable  for  children  ;  and  hence, 
while  we  might  favor  Ollendorff's  method  for  disci- 
plined minds,  and  especially  for  such  as  were  versed 
in  the  nature  of  grammar,  we  should  deprecate  it 
for  children  that  need  discipline,  and  particularly 
in  reference  to  the  Latin  and  Greek. 

The  sudden  popularity  of  all  these  often-repeated 
attempts  of  changing  plans-tested  by  ages,  is  owing 
to  many  accidental  circumstances  ;  but  in  regard  to 
the  dead  languages,  it  is,  in  part,  owing  to  the  in- 
competency of  so  many  teachers  of  the  languages, 
and  the  deplorably  little  depth  and  accuracy  of  their 
pupils.  Hence,  when  comparison  of  results  is 
made,  the  new  method,  having  superiority  over  the 
old  method  misunderstood,  and  not  properly  em- 
))loyed,  is  at  once  lauded  to  the  skies  !  In  medicine, 
quackery  often  triumphs  in  places,  because  professed 
members  of  the  medical  faculty  are  themselves  in 
those  places  little  better  than  quacks  ! 

The  old,  time-honored  method  pursues  the  order 
of  nature,  by  exercising  principally,  at  first,  the 
memory  ;  not  by  storing  it  with  mere  knowledge, 
but  rather  with  rules  and   priuci|)lcs.     If  such   are 


96 


CHAPTEK   IJI. 


not  learned  yoon,  they  cannot  easily  be  learned  af- 
terward ;  partly  because  the  mind  is  not  so  capable 
if  undisciplined,  and  partly  because  of  our  im- 
patience at  later  periods  of  committing  to  memory 
what  we  do  not  fully  understand,  and  yet  think 
we  understand.  Undisciplined  minds  will  not  com- 
mit verbatim  ;  and  yet  that  mode  is  in  many  sub- 
jects almost  indispensable  to  future  success.  Chil- 
dren that  are  not  mis-managed,  and  rendered  indo- 
lent and  pert  by  vain  attempts  to  make  them  philo- 
sophical, care  not  what  they  commit  to  memory ; 
and  they  commit  difficult  words  and  sentences,  al- 
most as  readily  as  the  opposite  kind.  Multitudes  of 
English  words  are  as  haj-d  as  Latin  ones  :  it  would 
scarcely  be  possible  to  find  Latin  and  Greek  words 
half  so  hard  as  thousands  of  words  in  geography, 
botany,  physiology,  natural  history  ;  and  which  are 
required,  not  merely  to  be  pronounced,  but  to  be 
committed  accurately  to  memory,  and  by  children 
little  advanced  beyond  babyhood  !  The  time  spent 
(may  it  not  be  said  wasted  1)  in  committing  geogra- 
phies, would,  in  many  cases,  if  spent  in  Latin,  have 
easily  and  fairly  put  a  child  in  possession  of  all  the 
essential  forms  and  rules  of  that  language  ! 

Many  writers  of  school-books  aim  to  delight  chil- 
dren by  familiarity,  sprightliness,  anecdote,  and  the 
like  ;  bewailing  the  barbarity  that  compels  to  severe 
and  laborious  study — when  all  might  be  such  a  pleas- 
ure !  Why  point  to'  a  steep  hill,  with  a  rugged  as- 
cent and  thorny  path  ?  when  the  darlings  could  be 
so  sweetly  coaxed  up  an  msensible  inclination, 
pausing  here  to  eat  a  peach,  and  there  to  smell  a 


THE   TOOLS  AND  INSTRUMENTS.  97 

rose  !  and,  ever  and  anon,  reposing  a  few  moments 
on  the  grassy  mounds  near  moss-crowned  fountains  ! 
and  regaled  with  the  song  of  beauteous  birds,  feath- 
ered with  rain-bow  glories  !  till,  in  a  delirious  thrill 
of  dreaminess,  the  innocents  found  themselves  on 
the  pinnacle  of  all  learning  and  science  ! 

It  may  be  well  enough  to  amuse  in  education,  as 
a  pastime ;  but  let  once  amusement  become  a 
means  of  discipline,  and  children  will  not  study  at 
all.  Like  all  other  responsible  and  moral  beings, 
these  must  find,  if  not  the  whole,  yet  their  chief 
their  daily  pleasures  and  enjoyments,  in  duty  and 
obedience ;  and  earn  the  good  of  learning,  as  all  other 
goods,  by  the  labor  and  sweat  of  the  brow.  Any 
book,  or  system  of  books,  that  obviates,  in  any 
degree,  that  necessity,  so  far  counteracts  the  law 
of  our  nature.  They  weaken  the  mind,  they  unfit 
for  the  fierce  and  endless  strur>£r]es  of  life. 

How  far  pictures  may  go  in  the  way  of  proper 
excitement,  the  author  for  himself  cannot  say :  his 
own  experience  has  found  them  neither  good  nor 
evil,  except  that  they  are  always  evil  when  they 
give  false  or  exaggerated  views.  If  parents  choose 
to  pay  a  few  additional  pence  for  pictures  in  scliool- 
books,  for  a  momentary  gratification,  or  that  the 
urchins  may  touch  and  re-touch  in  their  idle 
moments — be  it  so.  Booksellers  have  a  right  to 
live. — A  friend  of  the  author's  was  principal  teacher 
some  years  since  in  a  Sabbath  school.  Once,  in 
his  oflice,  he  was  lecturing  a  class  of  three  little 
boys,  on  the  final  results  of  idleness.  He  held  in 
Jiis    hand  a  penny  pamphlet — the  dying  speeches 


98  CHAPTER  III. 

and  confessions  of  three  murderers.  The  title-page 
was  very  tastefully  embellished  with  three  forms 
something  like  the  human — that  distant  resem- 
blance Taylor  loves,  in  boys'  pictures  ;  and  these 
forms  were  mournfully  dangling  from  one  gallows  ! 
My  friend  marked  the  deep  and  solemn  hush  of  the 
class  !  The  truth  was  silently  sinking  into  their 
softened  hearts  !  Why  not  ?  there  was  the  picture 
of  punishment — natural  consequence  before  the 
very  eyes  !  He  warmed  more  with  benevolent 
love — (he  was  a  noble-hearted  sailor) — he  poured 
forth  his  full  soul,  and  looked  with  moistened  eyes  ! 
Alas  !  the  innocent  little  darlings  peeped  into  his 
face — and  one,  with  a  comical  expression  in  his 
laughing  eye,  and  with  a  finger  pointing  to  the  pic- 
tured tragedy,  said  :  "  Mr.  M.,  don't  them  look  like 
three  dried  herrings  ?" 

The  effect  of  the  most  solemn  pictures  in  chil- 
dren's books,  is  not,  always,  precisely  what  the 
teacher  wishes.  But  pictures  and  questions  are 
hobbies  of  the  day — we  must  ride,  even  if  we  do  it 
backwards  and  forwards,  without  advancing  : — and 
these  things  do  add  to  the  value  of  the  books  ! 

Far  from  us  to  say,  school-books  admit  no  im- 
provement. Improvements  have  been  made*  Un- 
necessary dryness  has  been  relieved  by  sprightly 
illustration  ;  the  forbidding  frown  has  been  relaxed 
into  a  smile  ;  the  knotty  points  have,  in  a  measure, 
been  disentangled  ;  needless  difficulties  removed  ; 
roughness  and  barbarism  of  style  have  been  smoothed 
and  civilized  ;  and  many  judicious  helps  have  been 
furnished,    for   which    laborious   and    pains-taking 


THC  TOOLS   AND   INSTRrMENTP, 


99 


teachers  should  be  thankful.  And  yet  we  would 
gladly  have  retained  in  Latin  grammar,  the  barba- 
rous verses  !  They  jingle  yet  in  our  ears !  The 
noble  linguists  of  by-gone  days  owed  them  much  ! 
We  would  welcome  back  this  exploded  method  of 
fixing  the  rules  and  exceptions  in  the  mind  ! — yes  ! 
fixing  it  was !  as  if  all  were  graved  with  the  point 
of  a  diamond  on  adamantine  rock  !  If  boys  learned 
not  to  write  and  speak  Latin  in  three  months,  before 
they  understood  the  language  itself;  they  did,  at 
the  last,  come  to  translate  Greek  into  Latin,  to 
parse  in  Latin,  to  recite  grammar  in  Latin,  to  read 
annotations  in  Latin,  to  translate  any  English  author 
into  Latin  !  and  to  commit  Latin  poets  to  memory 
as  if  they  were  a  native  tongue  ! 

Few,  in  the  fervor  of  improvement,  can  stop. 
Because  some  things  in  the  school-books  are  wrong, 
all  must  be  changed.  Excellent  books,  one  after 
another,  disappear ;  and  under  plea  of  greater  im- 
provements, the  latest  improved  works  give  place 
to  stronger  pretensions.  Each  roars  and  flashes 
like  a  rocket — and,  like  a  rocket,  falls  to  the  earth 
in  dying  stars,  amidst  the  gaze  and  uproar  of  the 
crowd,  crying- for  something  still  more  brilliant ! 

The  mania  for  changing  prevails  even  among 
original  authors.  These  will  not  allow  their  school- 
book  to  pass  to  a  new  edition  without  essential  al- 
terations, and  sometimes  not  for  the  better.  Hence, 
not  rarely  teacher,  pupil,  and  parent  are  thrown  into 
an  agony  of  fume  and  fret,  it  being  not  possible  to 
class  pupils  for  more  than  a  few  months  with  the 
same  book  from  the  same   author  !     Except  for  the 


100 


CHAPTER  UI. 


impolicy  of  the  measure,  it  is  bearable  that  original 
authors  should  change  their  own  works  ;  but  when 
the  compiler,  the  abbreviator,  the  clarifier,  and  all 
other  tricksters  and  plagiarists,  seize  on  works  of 
originators,  and  after  cutting  and  carving  enough 
for  serving  up  as  a  first  course — that  these  miserable 
appropriators  should,  under  this  and  that  pretext, 
print  a  new  edition  every  year,  with  alterations — that 
is  intolerable  !  What !  when  the  whole  subject  is 
before  them,  all  the  materials  prepared  to  their 
very  hands,  the  thinking  all  done,  and  the  mere  ar- 
rangement to  be  made,  cannot  these  geniuses  make 
a  book  so  near  perfection,  at  first,  that  it  may  last 
for  some  ten  or  twelve  years !  Cannot  these  indus- 
trious little  ants  bring  enough  from  their  neighbors' 
heaps  of  corn  at  once  !  And  yet,  when  so  many  are 
swarming  and  boiling  in  the  pathway  to  the  trea- 
sure, all  cannot  get  everything,  and  each  must 
make  a  book  from  what  he  can  grab  !  And  then, 
when  his  own  book  is  manufactured,  he  must  labor 
to  show  the  public  that  the  other  booksters  did  not 
get  the  best  material  from  the  heap  !  and  whilst  all 
others  have  drawn  from  the  same  storehouses,  they, 
forsooth,  have  culled  error  only,  and  he  the  "truth  !" 
A  difference  in  spelling  a  dozen  words,  or  in  six 
definitions,  or  in  a  mode  of  counting  time,  becomes 
a  sufficient  reason  for  a  new  book  on  the  same  sub- 
ject, and  quarried  from  the  same  original  authors. 
Then  for  the  movement  of  heaven  aiid  earth,  till 
the  new  compend  shall  displace  the  old  !  Editorials 
pronounce  the  last  the  best ;  learned  men  and  shin- 
ing lights,  hitherto  not   known  and  unseen,   make 


THE  TOOI-S  AND  INSTRUMENT?. 


101 


their  dchiit  in  recommendatory  notices,  flashing  forth 
in  graceful  periods  and  studied  elegance  ;  and 
agents,  with  oily  smoothness  and  the  flippancy  of  a 
circus-master  showing  oft'  his  beasts  and  birds,  or 
his  monkey  rider  and  stunted  pony  in  the  ring,  pour 
out  their  voluble  praises  in  ipsissimis  verbis; — till 
the  younger  teachers  are  efiectually  humbugged  ; 
the  timid  ones  compelled  to  bite  at  the  guzzle ;  and 
even  the  knowing  ones  either  bribed  by  presents, 
or  yielding  to  importunity,  are  silenced  and  gained. 
One  would  think,  to  hear  some  agents  empty  out 
their  lecture  of  prepared  and  set  phrases,  that,  pro- 
phecy to  the  contrary  notwithstanding,  the  millen- 
nium could  not  arrive  till  the  universal  adoption  of 
some  new  spelling-book,  or  some  new  arithmetic ! 

Prudence  should,  doubtless  restrain  the  pen  in 
writing,  here ;  and  yet  one  could  not  exceed  the 
truth,  if  he  wrote  with  a  sharp  pen  dipped  into 
an  ink  of  wormwood  and  gall !  In  a  lynching  com- 
munity, some  pirates  would  be  flayed  alive  !  And 
yet,  under  the  protection  of  the  agis  law  of  libel, 
these  plunderers  can  carry  off'  in  the  open  face  of 
day ;  and  they  are  so  unblushing  as  to  demand 
praise,  when  they  should  stand  in  the  stocks  !  Agra- 
rianism  is  not  confmed  to  acres  ;  and  white  men 
disguised  as  red  Indians,  play  the  savage  in  the 
fields  of  literature  as  well  as  of  agriculture. 

In  some  branches  of  learning,  are  certain  time- 
honored  text-books,  whose  authors  are  long  passed 
away  ;  and  these  books  are  so  iiltrinsically  valuable, 
that,  in  all  the  changes  of  the  day,  they  nevertheless 
maintain  their  place  in  schools.     Such  books  it  is 


102 


fllAPTKH    III. 


lawful  to  correct,  and  now  and  then  to  modernize. 
Still,  it  is  to  be  regretted,  that  many  changes  in 
these  are  from  whim  ;  and  although  such  changes 
do  not  affect  the  intrinsic  excellence  of  the  works, 
they  prove  very  perplexing  to  the  teacher,  who 
wishes  to  drill  his  pupils  as  he  himself  was  drilled. 
In  this  case  the  very  words  of  rules,  and  the  former 
arrangement  of  the  whole  subject,  are  part  and  par- 
cel of  his  method.  A  finical  taste  pretends  to  give 
him  more  elegant  tools  ;  but  the  master  prefers  the 
feel  of  the  old  articles,  that  he  had  long  handled  with 
speed  and  dexterity.  Why  should  he  wish  better 
implements  ?  He  defies  the  fanciful  modernizer  to 
do,  with  the  tools  improved,  work  any  better  than 
before. 

But  when  a  change  is  made  in  the  fabric  of  these 
time-honored  text-books,  it  is  almost  invariably  a 
bad  change.  It  adds  raw  cloth  to  the  old — it  makes 
worse  rents — it  destroys  old  bottles  with  new  wine  •' 
The  impertinence  of  working-in  our  own  crudities 
with  the  sterling  matter  of  an  author's  text-book,  is 
surpassed  only  by  that  of  mending  the  poetry  of  the 
great  geniuses — a  trick  performed  every  few  years 
with  Christian  psalms  and  hymns,  under  plea  that 
worship  will  be  more  acceptable  if  the  poetry  be 
more  fashionable  ! 

It  may  possibly  be  startling  to  some,  but  many 
know  it  to  be  true  : — a  text-book  needs  not  be  per- 
fect !  Nor  is  it  at  all  important  that  everything 
belonging  to  the  subject  should  be  crowded  into  the 
book.  And,  spite  of  the  fear  about  misleading 
children,  one  way  of  wording  rules  is,  in  many  sub- 


THE  TOOLS   AND  IXSTRUMENTS. 


103 


jects,  just  as  good  as  another.  The  rule  cannot  be 
fiiirly  understood  till  it  is  repeatedly  applied  ;  nor 
then,  without  the  teacher.  And  when  rules  are 
well  understood  in  all  their  extent,  and  with  all  their 
exceptions,  they  may  be  laid  aside,  or  forgot,  or 
changed  by  the  disciple  himself.  Ignorance  of  all 
this,  as  well  as  vanity  and  presumption,  and  some- 
times "  the  love  of  money,"  have  as  much  to  do  with 
the  alterations  of  standard  text-books,  as  a  benevo- 
lent regard  for  the  pupils,  and  the  wish  to  promote 
true  learning.  Such  remarks  may  be  deemed  se- 
vere :  but  if  such  could  prevent  the  conduct  com- 
plained of,  the  ill-will  they  beget  could  be  more 
cheerfully  encountered.  Indignation  will  speak, 
even  when  it  knows  the  words  will  not  be  heeded. 

The  inquiry  may  now  be  made  as  to  what  con- 
stitutes a  good  text-book,  specially  in  regard  to 
schools  and  academies. 

In  some  subjects  it  matters  little  about  the  plan. 
They  may  be  variously  and  yet  equally  well  stu- 
died, and  commenced  in  many  different  ways  and 
places.  Of  this  kind  are  spelling,  reading,  and  ge- 
ography. But  in  other  subjects,  one  mode  of  begin- 
ning is  almost  indispensable:  such  are  mathematics 
and  languages.  Yet,  in  general,  it  may  be  said  that 
elementary  text-books  should  be — 

1.  Brief.  If  the  end  of  discipline  is  to  indoctri- 
nate in  principles,  the  text-book  should  contain  little 
beyond  the  principles.  But  many  text-books  are 
naked  in  principles  and  stuffed  with  knowledge,  or 
contain  the  principles  diffused  and  diluted.  Some 
are  mere  scrap-books,  or  a  kind  of  school    album  ; 


104 


CHAPTER    111. 


fuU  of  opinions  and  sentiments  of  many  authors  col- 
lected, but  not  condensed.  Others  are  mere  nuclei 
for  the  aggregation  of  the  author's  learning — a  sort 
of  buzzing  hornet's  nest,  with  wrapper  after  wrapper 
of  all  sorts  of  things,  real  and  imaginary,  about  a 
small  twig.     Many  are  but  miniature  cyclopedias. 

The  difficulty  in  the  way  of  the  necessary  brevity 
arises,  in  part,  from  the  wish  to  make  a  text-book 
for  all  sorts  ,of  schools  at  once.  If  primary  schools, 
academies  and  colleges  could  be,  either  by  compact 
or  law,  kept  distinct,  honest  men  could  and  would 
make  suitable  text-books.  But  the  insane  spirit  of 
an  ultra-democratical  and  abohtion  sentiment,  is  at 
war  with  distinctions.  It  demands  inexorably  a 
dead  level.  It  would  have  lands,  houses,  education, 
religion,  pleasure,  all  alike  for  the  mass ;  and  indus- 
try, skill,  and  perseverance,  that  would  naturally 
place  one  above  another,  must  be  decried  and  in- 
sulted. It  says  nothing  shall  be  special,  private ; 
everything  shall  be  common,  public.  It  allows  a 
community,  but  not  an  individual.  It  is  as  tyranni- 
cal, cruel  and  despotic  as  the  most  absolute  and  bar- 
barous monarchy ;  it  will  bend  the  individual  man 
to  its  will,  or  trample  on  all  his  sacred  rights,  sport 
with  his  tenderest  feelings,  yea  !  stamp  with  its  iron 
heel  upon  a  man's  very  heart !  "  The  people !  the  peo- 
ple !  liberty !  liberty  !"  is  its  watchword  and  cry ; 
but  it  is  the  people  as  a  mass,  as  an  abstraction,  as  a 
soulless  body  conventional,  and  liberty  to  live  and 
act  as  a  crowd  !  Individuals  and  individual  liber- 
ties it  abhors  and  destroys  ! 

Behold  the  tendency  of  this  spirit  as  to  schools  ! 


THE  TOOLS  AND  INSTRUJIENTS. 


105 


Common  schools  affect  to  equal  academies,  and 
academies  to  equal  colleges  !  A  single  teacher  in  a 
school  with  one  hundred  elementary  pupils,  professes 
himself  competent  and  ready  to  carry  the  whole 
from  the  a,  b,  c,  up  to  the  f,  i,  n,  i,  s  of  the  topmost 
university !  For  a  few  shillings,  he  will  do  what 
elsewhere  requires  many  hundred  dollars  and  a 
dozen  masters  in  literature  and  science  !  The  hero 
has  caught  the  spirit  of  the  age  !  He  swells  out 
with  the  bic^ness  of  the  conventional  man  !  He  is 
as  large  as  the  million  !  Here  is  a  frog  expanded 
by  steam  !  He  teaches  by  electro-magnetism  ! — the 
rich  and  poor  alike — and  just  as  well  whether  with 
or  without  books  and  breeches  ! 

And  then  the  colleges,  in  despair  or  revenge,  or 
in  self-defence,  step  down  voluntarily  from  their 
places,  and  with  a  pitiable,  scrambling  avidity, 
gather  up  the  half-fledged  younglings  of  the  inferior 
departments  ;  and,  finding  them  too  weak  for  a  flight 
in  upper  air,  brood  over  them  with  motherly  wings, 
and  feed  them  with  delicate  grubs,  till  in  due  time 
they  launch  forth  their  graduates  to  flap  awhile 
with  sheepskin  wings,  but,  alas  !  soon  to  fall  down 
undistinguished  among  the  many  ! 

Is  it  wonderful,  then,  that  money-loving  authors 
and  booksellers  joyously  avail  themselves  of  this 
state  of  things,  and  make  books  that  will  do  for  all 
schools?  And  how  can  the  disinterested  make  a 
distinction  in  the  text-books,  when  distinction  exists 
not  in  schof>ls  ? 

Books  foreh^mentary  instruction  in  primary  schools 
and  academics,  should,  as  a  general  rule,  contain  all 


106 


CHAI'TER   III. 


the  principles,  with  important  exceptions,  and  have 
matter  enough  for  ample  illustration  and  praxis. 
Books  for  colleges  may  differ,  because  in  colleges, 
in  addition  to  the  text-books,  lectures  are  employed 
as  one  medium  of  instruction,  and  fewer  questions 
are  asked  than  elsewhere.  Besides,  pupils  should 
be  beyond  the  elements  when  they  enter  college  ; 
they  are  now  ready  for  the  philosophy  of  their  sub- 
jects, and  therefore  their  books  may  be  more  diffi- 
cult and  contain  more  knowledge.  The  library  of 
the  college  may  furnish  what  is  omitted  in  the  text- 
book. 

As  to  libraries  for  primary  schools  and  even  acad- 
emies, they  serve  more  for  recreation  than  study. 
Not  rarely  are  they  pernicious.  If  the  master  knows 
his  business,  there  can  be  little  want  of  other  than 
the  school  books.  The  hours  not  devoted  to  rigor- 
us  studying,  should  be  hojiestly  devoted  to  playing  ! — 
yes — to  good,  wholesome  playing  ! — to  running, 
jumping,  laughing  !  Play  is  a  duty  for  a  hard  stu- 
dent ;  and  if  he  will  play,  fairly  and  conscientiously, 
at  the  play  hours,  he  cannot  be  hurt  by  any  hard 
studying.  The  library  may  be  well  enough  for  the 
master,  but  the  boy  has  no  business  with  it.  In- 
deed, libraries  in  academies  are  either  locked  np 
from  one  end  of  the  year  to  another,  or  more  usu- 
ally are  soon  torn  and  scattered.  Money  spent  for 
them  has  been  wasted.  Besides,  there  are  in  all 
places  town  libraries,  and  almost  every  private  fam- 
ily has  a  domestic  library  ;  and  if  books  for  recre- 
ation have  to  be  bought,  they  can  be  had,  such  as 
they  are,  for  next  to  nothing. 


THE   TOOLS    AND    IXSTRUMENTS.  JQ-y 

Let  a  boy  be  well  prepared  for  college  before  he 
enters,  and  he  may  read  a  little  there,  and  with 
profit ;  if  not  designed  for  college,  let  him  remain  at 
the  academy,  and  teach  and  read  ;  if  he  goes  to  a 
trade,  let  \\im  work  and  read  ;  "but  if  he  read  before 
these  times,  and  during  the  period  of  severe  study 
and  discipline,  he  becomes  almost  invariably  a  ped- 
ant, often  a  mere  idler,  and  very  often  an  insuffer- 
able coxcomb. 

We  are  aware  that  all  this  and  much  more  in 
these  chapters  is  deemed  heterodoxy  ;  but  in  a  far- 
off  imitation  of  Patrick  .  Henry,  w^e  say — If  it  be 
heterodoxy,  make  the  most  of  it. 

2.  Elementary  text-books  should  be  precise. 
Whatever  else  be  cultivated,  we  must,  in  education 
worth  the  name,  cultivate  the  memory.  Rules  and 
principles  should  evidently,  then,  be  expressed  in 
short  sentences,  and  with  the  most  appropriate  and 
comprehensive  words.  What  must  be  committed  to 
memory  should  be  wholly  detached  from  inference 
and  exception,  and  should  never  be  loaded  and 
embarrassed  with  parenthetical  explanation.  The 
page  should  contain  all  that  is  to  be  committed  at 
the  time — and  nothing  more.  Boys  do  not  like  to 
leave  work  behind  tiiem  ;  and  experienced  teachers 
know  the  difficulty  in  bringing  back  scholars  to 
commit  something  omitted  at  the  first  going  over. 
Better  that  rules  or  paradigms  not  needed  at  first 
should  follow  in  natural  order,  than  be  placed  im- 
properly. We  do  not  like  to  leave  forts  occupied 
by  the  enemy  in  the  rear  of  an  advance  into  the  lios- 
tile  territory.     We   conquer   and   garrison  as  we 


108  CHAPTER    III. 

proceed.  And  when  we  make  a  road,  it  is  folly  to 
leave  behind  parts  unfinished.  All  this  applies 
to  grammars.  An  error  in  leaving  a  portion  un- 
committed at  the  outset,  is  very  frequently  irre- 
parable. 

But  precision  is  of  vital  importance  in  expressing 
rules.  Yet  how  loosely  are  these  often  w^orded ! 
and  how  entangled  vrith  less  important  matter ;  as 
if  the  author  had  no  clear  perceptions,  and  did  not 
knovv^  which  M^as  of  greater  consequence,  the  rule 
or  the  restriction  and  explanation  !  Hence,  some 
teachers  compel  the  pupils  to  learn  both  text  and 
comment — to  swallow  the  bran  with  the  unbolted 
meal.  But  the  majority  of  pupils  do  commit  neither  ; 
for  where  the  author  has  had  no  accurate  sight, 
others  often  have  misty  views  through  his  cloudy 
medium.  And  what  is  dimly  perceived  here  is  un- 
dervalued. Even  experienced  teachers  are  fre- 
quently so  embarrassed  by  the  clumsy,  inartistical 
text,  that  in  despair  they  abandon  the  book,  and  de- 
pend upon  a  few  questions,  which  they  have  usually 
to  answer  daily  themselves,  and  to  make  explana- 
tion, to  be  re-repeated  with  endless  iteration  at 
every  lesson,  till  they  feel  very  much  like  flogging 
the  author,  and  not  the  boy.  Books  are  over  ex- 
plained, the  ignorance  or  -conceit  of  authors  not  al- 
lowing them  to  suppose  masters  and  scholars  can 
understand  the  plainest  thing,  without  it  is  made 
still  plainer. 

Perhaps  the  text,  properly  expressed,  should  oc- 
cupy the  upper  part  of  the  page,  with  exceptions 
deemed  as  indispensable  as  the  rules  themselves 


THE  TOOLS  AND  IXSTRUMENT9. 


109 


while  all  notes,  remarks,  observations,  and  the  like, 
should  be  placed  below  a  line  at  the  lower  part  of 
the  page. 

A  few  years  ago,  some  grammars  from  across  the 
water  were  in  use  here,  which,  in  a  pre-eminent  de- 
gree, possessed  the  essential  requisites  of  a  good 
text-book — brevity  and  precision,  and  a  distinct 
visibility  for  text  and  comment.  But,  under  some 
silly  pretext  or  other — perhaps  to  democratize  them 
— they  were  ruthlessly  seized,  and  so  marred  by 
mal-arrangement  as  soon  to  destroy  their  integrity  ! 
And  then,  by  degrees,  the  cunning  of  a  dexterous 
legerdemain^ubstituted  in  their  room  new  books ! 
It  was  equal  to  a  dissolving  view — one  melted  so 
insensibly  into  the  other !  The  schoolmaster  is 
indeed  abroad  in  the  land — and  so  is  the  book- wiz- 
ard !  He  touches  a  good  book,  and  it  becomes — any- 
thing else  ! 

If  it  be  asked,  what  should  be  committed  to  mem- 
ory ;  or  in  other  words,  what  should  be  put  into  the 
text  ?  the  answer  is,  whatever  is  of  daily  and  hourly 
application.  Different  teachers  may  differ  as  to 
what  is  to  be  thus  used ;  but  no  other  answer  can  be 
given,  because  the  book  is  a  mere  tool,  and  its  effi- 
cacy depends  upon  the  workman.  The  book  cannot 
make  the  teacher. 

Systems  of  books,  from  the  foundation  to  the  key- 
stone, have  been  attempted  by  several,  with  what 
success  the  author  knows  not.  In  some  cases,  fail- 
ure may  be  attributed  to  uncalled-tor  changes  in 
lonjT  established  forms  and  technical  w<n-ds.  Per- 
haps  the  authors  intended  these  small  changes  should 
6 


no 


CHAPTER   III. 


show  their  originality,  or  their  more  extensive  read- 
ing. Sometimes  it  arises  from  a  sickly  and  slavish 
imitation  of  German  writers — a  wish  to  train  the 
American  mind  like  the  German  mind  ! — the  one 
sort  of  mind  being  of  com'se  composed  of  material 
different  from  the  other.  Or  perhaps  the  ingenuity 
of  the  authors  intended  a  snare  by  the  alterations  j 
for  if  we  could  once  be  brought  to  commit  the  new 
forms,  we  should  have  an  almost  insuperable  aver- 
sion to  using  others,  even  if  better.  But,  alas  !  what 
is  gained  in  velocity  is  lost  in  power  ;  the  immove- 
ability  of  habit  makes  us  reject  what  causes  the  per- 
plexity ;  and  as  long  as  we  can  have  old  forms  we 
hate  the  new.  Get  us  to  lay  aside  our  prejudices 
for  the  old,  till  you  can  create  them  for  the  new, 
and  then  we  are  caught !  But  that  is  a  feat  beyond 
ordinary  legerdemain. 

Vain  the  hope,  however,  that  any  system  of  books, 
whatever  be  the  real  character,  should  come  into 
very  general  use.  Not  only  do  authors  love  change 
— the  people  also  love  it.  The  extreme  and  ultra- 
democratical  feeling  is  adverse  to  the  aristocracy  of 
one  dominant  system.  It  will  yield  to  nothing  uni- 
versal, unless  a  botanical  medicine,  or  an  extract  of 
sarsaparilla.  The  cupidity  of  many  will  incessantly 
strive  to  displace  popular  books  ;  and  any  book  or 
system  of  books  can  for  a  season  be  advertised  into 
use. 

Beyond  all  doubt,  very  important  advantages — 
indeed,  some  of  them  incalculable,  would  arise  if  one 
single  system  of  text-books  could  be  adopted  for  the 
schools,  in  their  distinctive  character  as  primary^ 


THE   TOOLS    AND   INSTRUMENTS. 


Ill 


academical,  and  collegiate.  Such  system  might  not 
be  perfect ;  but  without  inconvenient  changes  in  the 
essence  and  forms  of  rules,  tfiey  would  become  bet- 
ter and  better  in  time,  provided  learned  persons, 
sacrificing  their  individual  love  of  gain,  and  the  small 
fame  of  being  known  as  the  author  of  a  change  in  a 
word  or  a  phrase,  would  all  aid  to  make  that  one 
system  perfect.  But  it  is  a  chimera  to  expect  one 
system,  unless  under  the  authority  of  a  corporate 
body  of  colleges  and  academies ;  and  rather  than 
allow  such  a  body  to  do  good,  the  spirit  of  the  age 
would  crush  every  college  in  the  land  !  It  is  an 
aristocracy  in  literature  to  which  it  would  never 
submit.     Give  us  a  thousand  gods,  but  not  one  ! 

Amidst  the  countless  systems  and  books,  we  choose 
as  we  best  can.  To-day  we  get  a  good  article,  to- 
morrow a  bad  one.  The  meteors  and  stars  of  the 
literary  firmament  bewilder  us.  True,  each  partic- 
ular star  has  its  advocates,  and  bears  on  its  head  or 
drags  at  its  tail  a  long  flame  of  recommendation ! 
But,  alas  !  who  can  examine  all  ?  As  well  go  to  all 
the  streets  and  alleys  and  lanes,  in  search  of  folk 
cured  by  all  the  opposite  and  conflicting  systems  of 
(juackery  and  nostrum  !  If  the  cold  water  process 
boasts  its  thousands,  so  does  the  hot  water  and  steam 
process  !  One  swears  he  was  cured  by  a  box  of 
pills,  another  by  a  bottle  of  liquid  !  Hundreds  arc 
saved  by  homoeopathy,  and  hundreds  by  mesmer- 
ism !  So  every  system  of  education,  and  each  par- 
ticular book,  is  sworn  to  and  paraded  as  the  grand 
desideratum! 

Of  recommendations,  some  arc   from  men  good 


112 


CHAPTER    in. 


enough  as  lawyers,  physicians,  congressmen,  and 
divines,  or  as  mihtary  and  naval  officers,  but  who  of 
practical  teaching  are  as  ignorant  as  a  lord  !  How 
indignant  would  such  frown  were  we  to  trench  on 
their  professions  !  Some  recommendations  are  from 
vanity.  Small  people  wish  to  appear  in  print — to 
stand  for  once  in  capitals  !  Not  a  few  recommend, 
to- be  rid  of  importunity  !  Many  sign  what  others 
have  written,  just  as  we  put  down  our  names  upon 
a  paper,  pledging  ourselves  to  aid  in  buying  a  fresh 
milch  cow  for  some  poor  fellow,  whose  former  brin- 
dle  has  recently  gone  dry  !  Pity  will  move  in  favor 
of  a  new  book  !  We  knew  a  worthy  man  that  pur- 
chased a  bottle  of  a  popular  carminative,  not  to  save 
his  children  from  summer  disease — for  though  a  hus- 
band, he  was  not  a  father — but  that  he  might  volun- 
tarily furnish  the  druggist  with  a  recommendation  ! 
He  had  rather  be  printed,  even  if  destined  to  be 
wrapped  around  a  bottle,  than  to  remain  in  inglori- 
ous obscurity  !     And  that  person  was  a  clergyman  ! 

Perhaps  the  best  of  all  recommendations  is  a  book 
without  any.  Let  recommendation  be  given  to 
books  that  need  it.  It  is  the  fashion  to  be  recom- 
mended ;  but  it  is  nearly  the  same  as  a  newspa])er, 
in  which  all  the  advertisements  appear  in  the  column 
reversed.  Indeed,  we  have  become  suspicious  of 
all  contrivance.  "We  laugh  with  the  contrivers  as 
very  merry  fellows ;  and  we  give  them  their  re- 
ward— not  our  custom,  but  our  applause.  They 
wished  to  be  considered  quizzes  :  we  class  them  ac- 
cordingly. 

For  some  twenty  years  past,  school-books  have 


THR   TOOLS    AND   INSTRUMENTS.  jjg 

been  accompanied  with  questions  ;  but  it  does  not 
appear  that  the  plan  has  been  productive  of  any- 
great  advantages,  even  where  the  questions  have 
referred  to  the  subject,  and  not  to  the  paragraph 
and  page.  No  hesitation,  surely,  can  be  felt  in  pro- 
nouncing many  questions,  and  for  many  books,  a 
nuisance.  When  answers  are  furnished,  the  folly 
is  eminently  preposterous.  Of  course,  from  such 
censure  must  be  excepted  all  subjects  necessarily 
studied  by  questions,  and  all  books  composed  in  the 
form  of  dialogues.  Questions,  too,  that  become  to- 
pics or  themes  for  essays,  or  discussions,  on  different 
parts  of  a  subject,  are  not  only  excepted,  but  they 
are  praiseworthy. 

But,  generally,  questions  in  grammars,  histories, 
botanies,  rhetorics,  philosophies,  and  the  like,  are 
evils — and  that,  even  if  the  questions  refer  to  the 
subject  ;  for  while  ingenuity  and  diligence  are,  pos- 
sibly, employed  to  find  answers,  yet  the  mind  is  di- 
verted from  studying  the  subject  as  a  system, — and 
when  well  understood  as  a  system,  any  questions 
can  be  answered.  The  questions  are  to  spare  the 
memory  by  sharing  the  labor  with  the  judgment, 
and  are  part  of  the  perpetually  repeated  plan  to 
shorten  roads  and  smooth  roughness.  Let  the  pupil 
master  rules  and  principles ;  and  let  not  his  mind 
be  prevented  its  proper  exercise,  by  hints  furnished 
from  the  questions. 

Doubtless,  many  authors  print  questions  contrary 
to  their  own  judgment.  Books  must  appear  in  the 
fashionable  style,  even  if  grotesque ;  and  the  weak- 


114 


CHAPTER    lir. 


ness  of  parents  and  indolence  of  teachers,  sometimes 
reject  books  that  seem  to  he  too  hard. 

In  concluding  this  subject  the  author  would  say, 
that,  while  certain  books,  systems,  and  authors,  have 
been  in  his  view,  some,  on  the  one  hand,  worthy  all 
praise  and  thanks,  and  some,  on  the  other  hand, 
worthy  of  severe  censure  ;  yet,  his  present  object  is 
rather  to  throw  out  hints  and  suggestions,  gathering 
in  his  mind  for  years  past,  and  which  are  to  be  ap- 
propriated or  applied  where  they  may  be  suitable. 
If  no  works  and  systems  and  authors  exist,  to  which 
the  objections  and  censure  apply,  the  animadver- 
sions may  be  serviceable  in  deterring  ignorance, 
cupidity,  and  conceit,  from  making  and  publishing 
works  and  systems  of  the  sort  condemned. 


CHAPTER    IV 


ARRANGING     AND    MANAGING    THE    MATERIAL. 

The  author  disavov/s  all  intention  of  teaching 
teachers.  Nothing  is  more  abhorrent  than  an  essay 
or  book  intended  as  a  model  of  the  art  of  teaching- 
A  book,  indeed,  written  by  any  one  long  practised 
in  any  art  or  profession,  may  be,  in  a  degree,  profit- 
able to  the  less  experienced,  provided  the  author 
have  talents  or  genius  adequate  to  his  task  ;  but  if  a 
person  be  himself  destitute  of  the  essential  qualities 
of  a  teacher,  no  book  can  make  him  a  teacher.  If 
the  person  have  the  qualities,  he  has  anticipated 
most  that  others  can  say.  Or  such  an  one  has  plans 
and  systems  different,  and  yet  not  less  valuable  than 
others  ;  perhaps,  his  are  superior  to  anything  which 
may  be  written  and  disclosed.  He  is  himself  better 
fitted  for  the  work  of  an  author,  than  the  very  au- 
thor he  may  be  reading. 

Men  of  talents  and  genius  and  learning,  (and  very 
many  such  are  teachers,)  are  a  law  to  themselves : 
they  embody  all  that  can  be  said.  Hence  it  is  dis- 
tasteful to  have  obtruded  the  well-meant,  but  flip- 
pant and  conceited  smartness  of  some  lectures  and 
books,  addressed  to  teachers.  Some,  self-elected,  , 
and  others  legally  appointed,  have  an  ex-ofhcio  style 
in  discoursing  to  "schoolmasters,"  as  if  they  were 


Ijg  CHAPTER   rV. 

actually  "  green  !"  and  some  talk  to  them  as  if  the 
masters  were  slaves  and  fools  !  Perhaps,  some  such 
feel  sore  in  the  palm  or  somewhere  else,  and  take 
the  opportunity  of  a  little  brief  authority  to  butt 
their  hard  heads,  in  a  revengeful  spirit.  The  lamb- 
like patience  of  many  teachers  under  the  "  punish- 
ment"— severe  as  is  the  infliction — not  rarely  arises 
from  the  baneful  influence  of  a  system  of  legislative 
patronage  and  espionage,  adverse  to  the  teacher's 
manly  independence.  But  more  of  this  in  another 
place. 

We  aim  mainly,  now,  to  show  the  world  what 
teachers  do.  Gentlemen  of  the  profession  are  often 
pleased  and  confirmed  on  discovering  that  others 
think  and  practise  as  themselves.  Many  intelligent 
and  modest  men  pursue,  with  some  hesitation,  right 
m(Jthods,  who  are  at  once  emboldened  and  strength- 
ened by  a  similar  practice  of  men  rich  in  experience, 
and  whose  opinions,  therefore,  are  entitled  to  some 
respect.  It  is  the  arrogant  assumption  of  originality 
that  is  so  offensive  to  teachers. 

Success  in  a  school  depends  upon  many  things, 
some  common  to  all  schools,  with  slight  modifica- 
tions, and  others  special  to  an  individual  school. 
The  teacher  himself  may  be  an  old  or  a  young  man ; 
his  personal  appearance  prepossessing  and  dignified, 
or  the  contrary  ;  his  manners  winning  or  repulsive  ; 
his  temper  equal  or  variable.  Pupils  have  countless 
varieties,  contrasts  and  oppositions,  and  in  many 
points  of  view.  Parents  are  various,  and  different. 
A  thousand  nameless  things  aftect  the  character  of 
a  school.     Hence  the  egregious  folly  of  any  one 


ARRANGING  AND  MANAGING  THE  MATKRIAL 


117 


book,  or  treatise,  or  lecture,  that  aims  at  having  all 
teachers  regulated  by  one  standard  or  system.  In 
teaching  it  is  as  true  as  in  medicine  : — "  The  herring 
that  cures  the  Scotchman  kills  the  Frenchman." 

Of  things  common  to  schools,  with  modifications,  a 
few  may  be  named. 

1.  Classification. — This  saves  labor,  and  renders 
it  possible  to  teach  all,  where  otherwise  it  would  be 
impossible  rightly  to  teach  any.  But  beyond  con- 
venience, classification  is  important,  since  experi- 
ence shows  that  pupils  in  classes  learn  more  in  quan- 
tity, and  better  in  quality,  than  in  any  other  way. 
It  is  thus  in  most  things.  A  single  coal  will  die,  sep- 
arated from  others.  Hence  one  sufficient  reason 
for  the  superiority  of  public  education  over  private. 
Teachers  need  not  be  told  the  philosophy  of  this : 
they  know,  however,  that  with  rare  exceptions,  boys 
in  proper  classes  will  double,  often  treble  the  amount 
in  quantity  and  quality  beyond  the  amount  in  the 
same  time  of  a  solitary  boy  under  a  private  tutor. 
Boys  in  classes  usually  do  all  the  solitary  boy  does, 
and  yet  attend  to  many  additional  exercises,  which 
the  other  wholly  omits.  Masters  themselves,  obe- 
dient to  the  laws  of  sympathy,  will  ordinarily  teach 
a  class  of  ten  with  more  spirit  and  success  than  a 
class  of  two.  The  occasional  absence  of  two  or 
three  good  members  of  a  class,  has  a  visible  eflcct 
on  the  nerves  of  both  jjupils  and  teacher  ;  and  hence, 
a  rainy  day,  in  addition  to  other  reasons,  is  dreaded, 
because  of  the  sad  inroad  upon  the  size  of  the  class. 
Baron  Steuben  cursed  hard  enough  in  drilling  a 
whole  regiment :  it  would  have  at  once  shut  up  his 
0* 


Ug  CHAPTER   IV. 

profane  mouth,  had  Congress  compelled  him,  by  way 
of  chastisement,  to  drill  one  man  at  a  time  !  He 
would  have  been  too  dispirited  and  melancholy  to 
swear. 

Classes  may  be  either  too  small  or  too  large. 
From  six  to  fifteen  will  be  a  just  medium,  in  primary 
schools  and  academies.  In  colleges,  or  schools 
taught  by  lectures,  and  where  few  or  no  questions 
are  asked,  it  matters  not  what  may  be  the  size  of 
classes,  provided  none  are  prevented  from  hearing. 
Hence  boys  not  well  drilled  before  going  to  college, 
cannot  be  profited  ;  the  fault,  however,  not  being 
attributable  to  the  college. 

Proper  organization  of  classes  is  often  hindered 
by  accidents  beyond  the  control  of  teachers.  Equal- 
ity in  age,  industry,  talents,  and  the  like,  may  be 
desirable,  but  it  is  not  possible  ;  and,  therefore,  the 
expectation  of  parents  for  their  children,  and  pupils 
themselves,  of  being  classed  with  those  in  all  re- 
spects equals,  is  unreasonable.  Were  parents  as 
liberal  with  their  money  as  with  their  censures  often, 
principals  of  schools  would  be  well  enough  paid  to 
employ  more  assistant  tutors,  and  then  classes  could 
be  more  and  better  arranged.  But,  although  the 
Israelites  made  brick  and  found  straw,  it  does  not 
follow  that  schoolmasters  will  do  the  same,  till  Pha- 
raoh be  evoked  ab  inferis,  to  compel  them.  And  yet, 
without  a  separate  and  distinct  teacher  for  every 
three  or  four  children  in  a  school  of  fifty,  classifica- 
tion cannot  comprise  equals  only ;  nor  if  it  could, 
would  it  be,  of  consequence,  right. 

When  unequals  are  comprised,  provided  the  dis- 


ARRANGmC   AND   MANAGING   THE  MATERIAL  jjg 

parities  be  not  too  great,  a  laggard  is  forced  by 
shame  and  good  examples  to  hasten ;  while  the  one 
in  advance  fears  to  be  overtaken,  and  will  not  relax 
his  speed.  Without  means  of  comparing  rates  of 
speed,  important  mistakes  are  made.  Equals,  equally 
moving,  may  seem  to  be  moving  fast,  but  still  more 
slowly  than  possible  ;  but  a  quicker  movement  must 
be  educed  by  comparison  or  compelled  by  contrast. 
In  all  communities  we  must  act  with  many  ;  nor 
are  we  at  liberty,  from  every  inconvenience  and 
loss,  to  act  separately.  We  must  pay  something 
for  the  countless  advantages  of  a  social  compact ; 
and  selfishness  must  be  counteracted  in  schools  as  in 
active  life.  Here  the  strong  must  be  taught  to  bear, 
in  a  measure,  the  burdens  of  the  weak ;  and  the 
teacher,  in  the  adjustment  of  classes,  may  regard 
justice  and  yet  love  mercy.  If  parents  insist  on  very 
special  attention,  let  them  pay  a  very  special  price, 
or  employ  a  private  tutor ;  or  let  principals  be  ena- 
bled to  employ  additional  assistants. 

It  is  the  custom  to  tell  of  the  obligations  and  du- 
ties of  teachers  :  it  is  pardonable,  if  teachers  say 
something  about  the  duties  of  parents.  We  hope, 
therefore,  the  fable  of  the  lion  and  the  man  may  be 
recalled  to  mind,  when  it  is  shown,  from  time  to 
time,  that  the  lion,  furnished  with  the  brush,  will 
paint  the  man  underneath. 

But  a  source  of  vexation  in  classing  scholars,  is 
in  text-books.  The  sorts  on  the  same  subject,  used 
by  children  coming  from  many  different  schools  and 
districts  and  parts  of  the  Union,  not  only  are  innu- 
merable— the  varieties  in  the  sorts  are  many  ;  and 


120 


CHAPTER   IV. 


every  sort  is  deemed  by  the  parents,  perhaps,  the 
best !  Hie  labor  est  !  nunc  usus  viribus  !  A  class, 
however,  is  at  length  formed ;  and  the  text-book, 
partly  by  vote,  partly  by  coaxing,  and  partly  by 
force,  is  selected.  The  master  proceeds  to  assign 
the  lesson  ;  he  names  the  page  ;  the  books  are  shuf- 
fled and  turned — happy  omen  ! — eagerness  in  the 
manner,  good  nature  in  the  eyes  !  The  passage  is 
named — and  then  come  cries  from  several  of  the 
class  :  "  Sir  !  that  is  not  in  my  book  !"  "  Sir  !  it  is 
different  here  !"  Upon  this,  the  master,  so  suddenly 
checked  under  full  sail,  asks  :  "  Have  you  not  got 

?" — (we  have  a  great  mind  to  fill  the  blank.) 

"  Yes,  sir  !"  "  Let  me  see  the  edition  !"  "  Aye  !  it 
is,  indeed,  the  book ;  but  the  editions  are,  severally, 
six  months  later  !"  Of  course,  (how  can  ordinary 
flesh  and  blood  refrain  ?)  the  master,  in  bitter  indig- 
nation, delivers  an  extemporaneous  lecture  on  book- 
sellers, book-makers,  and  book-agents  ;  hauls  in  his 
flowing  sheet,  and  rows  laboriously  against  an  ad- 
verse tide,  as  best  he  can. 

Why  should  not  a  man  of  medium  understanding, 
review  and  re-write  his  book  till  it  is  as  perfect  as  a 
text-book  need  be,  and  then,  when  published,  let  it 
alone?  The  changes  made  in  every  edition,  show 
plainly  enough  that  the  first  was  done  in  a  hurry  ; 
that  the  writer  feared  some  more  active  gentleman 
would  forestall  the  market.  Some  authors  are  but 
raw  hands  at  the  business,  and  they  expect  to  im- 
prove as  they  go ;  yet  some  such,  although  they 
have  had  practice  sufficient,  are  not  yet  perfect. 

An  imperfect  text-book,  (materially  imperfect,  or 


ARRANGING  AND  MANAGING  THE  MATERIA!,. 


121 


one  whicii  the  author  deems  such,)  should  never  be 
adopted  in  a  school ;  and  when  a  new  edition  differs 
very  materially  from  the  former,  it  would  be  a 
proper  corrective  of  the  evil,  and  an  effectual  one, 
too,  if  that  work  was  at  once  dropped.  Let  authors 
of  school-books  be  taught  the  "  seven  years'  rule," 
and  then  we  should,  at  long  intervals,  now  and  then, 
have  a  good  book,  instead  of  seven  bad  editions  of 
the  same  work  in  as  many  years.  Teachers  are  a 
mighty  body,  if  united  ;  and  some  persons,  wise  in 
their  own  conceit,  if  the  masters  would  take  the 
pains,  might  be  taught  salutary  lessons.  They  could 
be  smart  for  once  ! 

The  practice,  in  some  schools  of  much  and  de- 
served celebrity,  is  worthy  all  imitation,  where 
practicable.  Sets  of  classes  move,  at  a  signal,  into 
separate  apartments,  where  tutors  are  in  attendance 
to  hear  the  several  recitations ;  and  then,  in  due 
season,  at  another  signal,  these  sets  are  succeeded 
by  other  sets,  and  take  their  places  in  the  common 
study-room.  In  the  common  study-room,  the  prin- 
cipal, or  some  suitable  assistant,  presides — superin- 
tending the  studies,  keeping  order,  aiding  in  diffi- 
culties, correcting  faults,  marking  delinquents,  and 
the  like.  The  intervals  between  the  sets  of  classes, 
should  not  usually  exceed  forty-five  minutes,  nor  be 
less  than  thirty  ;  and,  in  this  way,  in  a  school  of  me- 
dium size,  with  three  or  four  teachers,  from  thirty- 
five  to  fifty  recitations  may  be  heard  daily,  and 
heard  in  the  best  possible  manner. 

This  arrangement  is  not   always    possible  ;    but 


122  CfiAPTRR     IV. 

where  many  branches  are  studied  at  once,  it  cannot, 
with  advantage,  be  dispensed  with.  Where  but  one 
or  two  things  are  studied  all  the  time,  as  was  for- 
merly the  mode,  or  where  different  branches  are 
appropriated  to  different  days,  as  is  practised  by 
some,  a  single  room  is  sufficient ;  and  a  less  number 
of  classes  requires  a  less  number  of  teachers.  With- 
out entering  into  the  discussion  here,  as  to  the  com- 
parative advantages  of  a  concentrated  and  a  mixed 
system  of  studies,  the  author  inclines  to  the  latter,  pro- 
vided studies  are  not  too  numerous.  Such  schools  re- 
quire, however,  several  teachers,  and,  of  consequence, 
as  many  recitation-rooms  as  there  are  teachers. 

2.  Lessons  should  be  perfectly  got.  This  rule 
must  be  inexorably  enforced.  The  success  of  a 
school  turns  at  last  upon  this  point.  Whatever  excel- 
lencies, beside,  belong  to  the  school,  this  is  its  life: 
if  this  languish,  everything  else  will  decay  with  it. 
No  apologies  must  be  admitted  for  the  constant, 
or  even  frequent  violations  of  this  rule.  Care 
must,  indeed,  be  taken  that  pupils  have  neither 
more  nor  less  than  they  can  fairly  manage  ;  but  that 
quantum  ascertained,  it  must  be  imperatively  and 
perseveringly  required.  Great  difficulty  is  here  ; 
and  all  a  teachers  sagacity  and  wisdom  and  expe- 
rience are  called  forth  to  apportion  tasks  justly ; 
but  sooner  or  later,  ruin  or  prosperity  hangs  on  the 
management.  Elegance  of  building,  beauty  of  scen- 
ery, good  intentions,  learning,  ability  in  teachers, 
and  many  other  things,  may  retard  ruin ;  but,  if 
pupils  are  not  forced  to  master  such  lessons  as  they 


ARRANGING  AND  MANAGING   THE    MATERI.\L. 


123 


can  master,  the  ruin  will  come  at  last.  We  must 
approximate  perfection  here ;  and  the  nearer  that 
approximation,  the  fairer  the  prospect,  other  things 
being  equal,  of  a  long  enduring  school. 

It  is  spoken  more  in  sorrow  than  in  anger ;  but 
the  enforcing  of  this  prime  essential  is  often — yes, 
alas  !  very  often — rendered  impossible  by  the  weak- 
ness of  too  indulgent  parents.  Such  send  to  a  good 
school,  in  the  vain  hope,  that  in  some  indefinable 
way,  the  name,  the  reputation,  and  other  pleasant 
things  of  the  school,  will  do  the  boy  good !  But 
the  only  rule  that  can  do  him  good,  they  wish  not 
enforced  !  And  when  he  becomes  soured  and  rebel- 
lious, under  the  faithful  enforcement,  his  complaints 
will  be  heard  !  All  punishment,  whether  of  rebuke, 
or  confinement,  or  chastisement  with  the  rod,  will 
be  deemed  anti-republican,  kingly,  despotic !  In 
vain,  all  expectation  of  a  good  school,  if  in  any  com- 
munity the  majority  of  parents  are  indulgent,  or 
themselves  undisciplined ;  for  the  teacher  must 
either,  at  last,  yield  to  the  fierce  storm,  if  he  be 
faithful,  or  he  must  relax  his  rigor ;  and  then  ruin 
comes  in  another  shape.  Doubtless,  many  schools 
owe  their  failure  to  the  teacher,  but  not  a  few  to 
the  parents.  Where  parents  duly  sustain  the  teacher 
in  his  rigorous  exaction  of  possible  tasks,  there  the 
children  grow  in  obedience,  in  manliness,  in  strength 
of  character,  in  knowledge — in  everything  "  lovely 
and  of  good  report ;"  and  there  is  a  good  school. 

Some  parents  wish  tasks  assigned  for  studying  in 
the  evenings  at  home  ;  others  wish  all  studying  to 
be  confined  to  the  srhool-room  :  h\\\  vnrietv  hero  is 


124 


CHAPTER   IV. 


unavoidable.  Enough,  if  all  the  pupils  have  tasks 
suitable  in  difficulty,  and  sufficiently  numerous,  and 
that  all  these  tasks  are  required  to  be  fairly  per- 
formed :  where  or  when  learned  is  of  small  impor- 
tance. Parents  think  they  have  a  criterion  of  a  boy's 
progress  and  improvement  in  the  fact  of  his  seeming 
to  be  busy  with  his  lessons  at  home,  or  the  contrary  ; 
but  often  this  home-diligence  is  occasioned  by  indo- 
lence in  the  school-room  ;  and  not  rarely,  it  is  a  de- 
ception to  prevent  parental  suspicion,  or  to  lull  it 
when  awaked.  Nothing  but  examinations  on  the 
part  of  the  parent,  and  frequent  interviews  with  the 
teacher,  and  occasional  visits  to  the  school-room,  and  a 
constant  attendance  at  periodical  public  examinations, 
can  enable  the  parent  to  form  a  correct  judgment. 

As  a  general  rule,  a  full  half  of  the  time  in  school 
should  be  spent  by  each  pupil  in  actual  recitations. 
The  tasks  can  usually  be  learned  in  the  other  half, 
with  one  or  at  most  two  hours  home- studying, 
or  if  at  a  boarding-school,  extra  studying.  Seven 
hours,  or,  at  the  very  utmost,  (and  rarely  that,) 
eight  hours  per  diem  is  sufficient  time  spent  by 
children  in  studies  and  recitations.  The  rest  should 
be  devoted  to  playing,  or  to  recreation,  which, 
sometimes,  may  be  of  a  literary  or  philosophic  char- 
acter. But  good,  honest,  wholesome  sports  are  vi- 
tally essential  to  children.  Young  men  or  women, 
by  proper  system,  may  do  more  than  children  ;  but 
such,  if  studious,  must  beware  of  exceeding  eight 
hours  in  their  laborious  studies. 

3.  Discipline  is  used  now  in  the  sense  of  govern- 
ment, and  not  instruction  ;  and,  with  few  exceptions. 


ARRANGING    AND    MANAGING    THE   MATERIAL.  125 

all  educators  profess  to  believe  that  governmental 
discipline  is  essential  to  the  well-being  of  a  school. 
The  no-government  folk  may  be  left  to  time — a 
tardy,  but  sure  and  severe  corrector  of  folly.  And 
yet,  while  many  parents  admit  that  discipline,  cor- 
rective, coercive,  and  even  punitive,  must,  at  times, 
be  applied  to  children — still  only  to  children  in  the 
abstract^  while  children  specially  and  particularly  are 
always  excepted  ! — or  that,  if  necessary,  it  is  for 
their  neighbors'  juveniles  only — their  own  will  give 
no  trouble  !  Experience,  however,  shows  invaria- 
bly, that  in  large  promiscuous  schools  the  exceptions 
are  a  very  small  minority  ;  and  that  this  minority, 
for  the  most  part,  would  become  idle,  impertinent, 
and  often  openly  rebellious,  if  they  were  only  per- 
suaded that  punitive  and  coercive  discipline  ought 
not  and  would  not  be  employed  in  their  case. 

With  the  best  children,  noble  motives  occasion- 
ally lose  their  power.  If  allowed,  then,  to  be  neg- 
ligent, they  will,  in  time,  despise  the  master :  the 
fear  of  the  rod  must  be  before  their  eyes.  Fre- 
quently, to  every  person's  surprise,  a  boy,  long  re- 
markably good,  and  a  favorite,  suddenly  stands  forth 
in  defiance  of  authority  !  Some  order,  contrary  to 
his  liking,  had  been  given — some  distasteful  task  en- 
joined— and,  in  a  moment,  he  rebelled  !  A  teacher, 
in  such  circumstances,  has  but  two  alternatives — to 
compel  obedience,  or  resign  his  oflice.  He  may, 
indeed,  expel  the  boy  ;  but  that  is  a  cowardly  and 
injurious  expedient,  and  often  organizes  against  the 
school  an  opposition,  determined  and  successful. 
If,  indeed,  parents,  rather  than  allow  a  favorite  boy 


12G  CHAPTER   IV. 

to  be  properly  compelled  to  his  duty,  withdraw  him 
from  school,  because  of  a  threatened  chastisement, 
or  because  of  its  necessary  infliction,  that  is  an  evil 
unavoidable  ;  but  the  consequences  belong  to  those 
misjudging  parents. 

Often  we  read,  in  school  advertisements,  that  the 
government  is  strictly  parental ;  sometimes,  moral 
and  parental.  But  what  is  parental  government  ? 
Such  government  is  good  or  bad,  according  to  the 
intelligence,  religion,  and  fu-mness  of  parents.  Some- 
times it  is  coercive  ;  sometimes,  not.  In  some  fam- 
ilies, from  special  causes,  little  beyond  persuasives 
is  necessary;  or,  if  coercion  be  occasionally  called 
for,  the  lightest  pull  of  the  reins  serves  :  so  tender 
(to  keep  up  the  metaphor)  are  some  children,  that 
the  least  check  restrains — the  slightest  spur  incites. 
If  domestic  discipline  eschew  all  coercion  and  puni- 
tion,  when  children  are  rebellious  and  wilful,  that 
parental  government  will  not  do  for  schools  ;  at 
least,  not  for  all  schools.  It  may,  for  a  while,  suc- 
ceed in  schools  so  fortunate  as  to  be  wholly  com- 
posed of  the  very  best  children,  from  the  very  best 
families ;  but  such  schools  are  liable  to  sudden  re- 
bellions, from  the  implied  absence  of  corrective  and 
punitive  discipline,  while  human  hearts  are  naturally 
evil  and  treacherous. 

Perhaps  the  phrases,  "  parental  government," 
"moral  and  parental,"  and  similar  ones,  in  adver- 
tisements, are  frequently  mere  words  of  course,  with 
any  or  no  meaning :  but,  sometimes,  such  phrases 
are  indicative  in  their  character :  the  teacher  in- 
tending to  proclaim  that  corporal  chastisement  will, 


ARRANGING    AND    MANAGING    THE    MATERIAL. 


127 


in  no  case,  be  employed  as  a  means  of  discipline. 
In  that  case,  it  is  more  definite  to  say  at  once,  "  cor- 
jioral  chastisement "  is  not  used.  It  is  hardly  fair 
to  appropriate  the  word  "  parental ;"  because  teach- 
ers who  occasionally  appeal  to  the  rod,  consider 
themselves  as  exercising  a  judicious  and  parental 
government.  Possibly,  fear  may  induce  a  mild  and 
ambiguous  term,  lest  certain  schools  might  be  wholly 
composed  of  good-hearted  youngsters,  who  have 
made  up  their  minds  not  to  be  whipped — a  commu- 
nity no  teacher  in  his  senses  would,  of  choice,  pre- 
fer ;  or,  possibly,  certain  schools  design  to  adminis- 
ter "  a  parental  government "  both  ways,  to  suit  the 
parents  of  opposite  opinions.  The  policy  may,  per- 
haps, be  defended  ;  yet  honesty  is  here  also  the  best 
policy. 

The  rod,  in  most  mixed  schools,  must  be  a  final 
and  possible  resort.  Its  actual  use,  with  judicious 
masters,  is  always  a  tardy  necessity.  It  should  be 
employed  solemnly  and,  for  most  cases,  separate 
from  beholders.  Let  the  rod  not  be  employed  for 
small  mistakes  and  ofiences,  nor  for  mere  heedless- 
ness ;  and  never  for  deficiencies,  where  reasonable 
industry  has  existed.  For  these,  and  innumerable 
faults,  other  modes  of  discipline  are  commonly  suf- 
ficient. But  let  the  rod  be  confined  to  the  greater 
and  graver  ofliences  ;  to  deliberate  or  often  repeated 
offences,  after  suitable  admonitions  and  warnings ; 
to  all  lixed  and  sullen  obstinacy  ;  to  a  vicious  and 
rebellious  spirit ;  to  all  cases  where  mild  discipline 
would  beget  additional  indolence  and  insolence. 

Many  shuflle  ofl'  responsibility,  and  rid  themselves 


128  CHAPTER   IV. 

of  a  disagreeable  duty,  by  saying,  "  Bad  boys  should 
be  expelled  !"  That  may  be,  however,  at  a  teach- 
er's peril !  There  is  One  who  may,  hereafter,  re- 
quire the  bad  boy's  soul  at  the  master's  hands ! 
Society,  even,  may  have  questions  to  ask  of  that 
teacher,  which  may  not  so  easily  be  answered,  if 
the  expelled  becomes  a  nuisance  and  a  pest  ! 

Said  a  father  once  to  the  author,  who  expressed 
an  intention  of  dismissing  his  son :  "  Have  you  whip- 
ped him,  sir  ?"  To  this  was  the  reply  :  "  No  ;  I  am 
opposed  to  corporal  chastisement  in  schools."  "  What, 
sir  !"  exclaimed  the  father,  "  do  you  mean  to  expel 
my  son,  injure  his  character,  injure  his  family,  when 
a  good  whipping  would  make  him  behave  himself ! 
I  entreat  you,  sir,  whip  himJ"  The  boy  was  prop- 
erly chastised,  though  in  violence  to  our  own  feel- 
ihgs ;  and  he  reformed  in  a  moment,  remaining  a 
comparatively  good  boy,  till  the  school  itself  was,  in 
a  year  or  two  afterwards,  discontinued. 

Some  tell  us  they  have  conducted  schools  with- 
out chastising  in  any  instance :  so  have  we,  and 
many  other  rod-believing  masters ;  but  we  say, 
schools  cannot  always  be  thus  conducted.  Time 
was  when  our  uniform  response,  to  parents  who 
urged  us  to  chastise  bad  boys,  was  :  "  We  will  not 
be  whipping-post  for  the  neighborhood ;  do  your 
own  whipping."  Our  experience  has  been  of  both 
methods,  and  the  resident  conviction  now  is,  that 
the  occasional  use  of  the  rod,  in  some  schools,  is  in- 
dispensable ;  and  its  use  in  all  should  be  deemed 
possible.  ~  A  slumbering  power  feared,  prevents  its 
ever  waking ! 


ARRANGING    AND    ^rA^'AGING    THE    MATERIAL. 


129 


And  this  occasional  use  of  the  birch  is  parental. 
The  teacher,  like  a  parent,  must  be  careful  not  "  to 
provoke  sons  to  wrath ;"  yet  his  "  soul  must  not 
spare  for  the  crying."  He  may  withhold  correction 
and  hate  the  children.  Pupils  under  a  judicious, 
although  rigorous  system,  love  the  master,  and  can 
be  moved  by  a  sense  of  honor  and  proper  emula- 
tion. But  all  rewards,  and  praise  and  blame — all 
confinement,  and  extra  tasks — all  reports  of  bad  be- 
haviour to  parents — all  appeals  to  honor  and  con- 
science— all  these,  and  the  many  ever-varied  expe- 
dients of  anxious  teachers,  sometimes  fail  ;  and  then 
the  "  voice  of  the  rod"  must  be  heard.  He  who, 
then,  from  mistake  or  indiirerence,  will  not  allow 
thai  voice  to  speak,  is  instrumental  in  forming  a 
demagogue — a  liar — a  thief — a  murderer  !  Inquiry 
would  show  that  many  of  the  atrocious  crimes  of 
men,  are  measurably  owing  to  some  radical  defect 
in  the  early  education  at  home  and  at  school — to 
a  want  of  wholesome  rigor. 

Generally,  the  rod  must  be  used  with  young 
children  in  school  :  we  are  to  correct  while  "  there 
is  hope  ;"  for  if  there  is  no  hope  of  doing  good,  cor- 
poral chastisement  may  harden.  There  is,  as  for 
all  other  things,  a  time  for  the  rod.  And  yet  cases 
exist  when  a  flagellation  of  juelty  large  boys,  has 
acted  "as  a  charm."  In  the  instance  named,  the 
boy  was  over  sixteen  years  of  age.  In  another 
case,  a  large  boy  was  a  notorious  truant,  a  liar,  and 
a  species  of  forger  :  with  a  sincere  reluctance  and 
a  hopeless  feeling,  this  lad,  at  the  express  and  earnest 
request  of  the  parent,  was  chastised  ;  and  his  cxtcr- 


130  CHAPTER   IV. 

nal  reformation  was  instant  and  complete  !  Indeed, 
as  to  his  own  government,  the  author  has  often 
erred  from  a  deep-rooted  aversion  to  the  use  of  the 
rod  ;  and  his  birchings  have  been  few  and  far  be- 
tween. The  boys,  doubtless,  did  not,  at  the  time, 
consider  these  "  angel  visits  ;"  and  yet  more  good 
may  have  been  done,  than  if  their  eyes  had  been 
blessed  with  such  sights.  Ilis  present  opinions 
shall  be  yielded  to  argument  supported  by  facts ; 
but  to  the  humdrum  of  lecturing  superintendents, 
paid  for  pelting  frogs — never  ! 

In  regard  to  girls,  the  rod  should  be  used  only 
with  very  little  ones — and  that,  always  by  a 
woman.  None  but  a  woman  should,  if  possible, 
ever  teach  little  girls.  Many  young  girls  advanc- 
ing towards  womanhood,  do  indeed  behave  in  school 
in  a  manner  worthy  severe  chastisement ;  but  the 
twig  has  become  now  inclined,  and  too  rigid  and 
inflexible  a  branch  for  the  warping  into  a  right 
direction,  by  any  school  discipline.  The  tree 
must  bear  its  fruit  now.  The  coming  age  must 
eat  it ! 

Such  an  avowal  will  render  indignant  young 
gentlemen  in  the  sparking  age  and  perhaps  old 
bachelors,  that  cultivate  hair  on  the  upper  lip  and 
wear  wigs,  strutting  a  brief  noontide  in  the  sunshine 
of  a  lady's  countenance.  Looks,  however  savage, 
do  not  kill  everybody.  Truth  is  more  formidable 
and  awe-inspiring  than  angry  words,  and  scornful 
faces.  Teachers  see  young  ladies  in  a  light  different 
from  that  in  which  they  are  often  viewed  by  men 
of  gallantry.    The  "  angel"  of  a  ball-room  or  a  fash- 


ARRANGING    AND  MANAGING    TIIE    MATERIAL. 


131 


ionable  party,  changes  wonderfully  in  the  school- 
room. Would  a  man  not  mistake  in  his  choice  of  a 
life's  companion  ? — let  him  consult  her  teacher,  and 
not  her  dress-maker  or  dancing-master.  A  young 
lady  that  passes  with  honor  and  reputation  through 
the  fiery  ordeal  of  the  school — a  furnace  that  melts 
away  dross  and  tin  from  the  pure  gold — will  always 
make  a  wife  worth  the  winning.  The  fop  cannot 
have  her ;  she  is  not  for  his  asking.  She  reads  him 
at  a  glance,  from  his  title-page,  done  in  curled  hair, 
to  the  finis  of  his  gilded  volume,  bound  in  French 
calf-skin  !     A  woman  deserves  a  man. 

4.  We  prefer  an  admixture  of  various  and  oppo- 
site studies.  Studies  may  be  ranked  in  two  grand 
classes.  The  most  important  class  is  mainly  dis- 
ciplinary ;  although  they,  of  necessity,  have  second- 
ary uses,  extremely  valuable.  The  other  class  is 
mainly  important  for  knowledge ;  but  yet,  they  may 
be  so  used  as  to  become  instrumental  in  strengthen- 
ing the  mind. 

Of  the  first-named  kind  are,  the  dead  or  ancient 
languages,  the  exact  sciences,  logic,  and  all  kinds  of 
philosophy  properly  so  called.  Of  the  second  kind 
are,  geography,  history,  chemistry,  botany,  reading, 
spelling,  and  many  more. 

These  two  classes  of  studies  may  mutually  par- 
take in  some  degree  each  other's  character ;  yet 
ground  exists  for  the  distinction  just  made.  If  our 
views  of  education  are  correct,  our  school-books 
and  studies  will  appertain  rather  to  the  disciplinary  : 
if  we  aim  to  make  the  student's  mind  a  mere  store- 
house, we  shall  select   from  the  other  kind  :    or  il 


J  32  CHAPTER   IV. 

the  first  be  used,  it  will  be  simply  for  show,  and, 
therefore,  superficially. 

But,  whatever  our  views,  we  must  not  expect 
others  immediately  to  adopt  them.  A  very  great 
number  of  parents  prefer  the  easier,  the  undisciplin- 
ary  studies ;  for,  acquainted  only  with  these  them- 
selves, they  cannot  appreciate  the  severe.  The 
stream  cannot  be  higher  than  the  fountain.  In- 
stances of  great  success  in  every  walk  of  life  are 
found,  where  men  with  small  education,  and  small 
talents,  move ;  and  instances  of  important  failure, 
where  educated  men,  and  men  of  talents,  have  tried. 
Nay,  very  ignorant  persons,  unable  to  read,  to 
spell,  to  write  their  own  native  tongue,  may  be 
seen  everywhere  in  prosperity,  in  riches,  in  great 
wealth.  How  then  shall  the  majority  of  parents 
know  the  advantages  and  the  uses  of  severe  and 
laborious,  and  apparently  expensive  discipline  ?  The 
majority,  the  great  majority,  in  most  places,  prefer 
books  and  studies  easy,  common,  cheap ;  or  if 
higher  studies  are  sought,  it  is  on  the  principle  of 
the  sheep  in  the  Vicar's  family  picture — as  much  or 
as  many  as  can  be  put  in  for  nothing  ! 

No  small  number,  however,  of  parents  who  are 
fully  aware  of  the  vital  importance  of  thorough  ed- 
ucation, may  everywhere  be  found  ;  and  yet,  from 
want  of  time,  or  pecuniary  ability,  or  some  other 
good  reason,  these  forego  the  advantages  of  that 
education,  and,  of  necessity,  restrict  themselves  to  a 
partial  training  of  their  children.  For  many  rea- 
sons, not  necessary  to  state,  pupils  designed  to  be 
most  thoroughly  disciplined  in  severe  studies,  should 


ARRANGING   AND    MANAGING  THE    MATERIAL.  log 

be  exercised  in  the  lighter  branches.  Hence,  schools 
generally  must  have  an  admixture  of  studies.  This 
may  agree  with  a  teacher's  views,  but  it  would  exist 
contrary  to  his  views.  The  time  is  past  when 
schools  were  wholly  classical,  or  mathematical  ;  al- 
though schools  are  often  attempted  that  are  com- 
mercial, or  elocutional,  or  for  mere  penmanship.  It 
is  lawful  to  be  taught  by  an  enemy  ;  and,  as  systems 
of  partialism,  or  of  quackery,  have  incidentally  re- 
formed many  abuses,  and  corrected  many  errors  in 
medicine,  so  the  well-founded  objections  to  an  edu. 
cation  too  exclusively  Latin,  or  mathematical,  al- 
though violently,  and  in  many  cases  maliciously 
urged,  have,  beyond  doubt,  rectified  mistakes  in  for- 
mer systems.  A  storm  is  useful  no  less  in  the  liter- 
ary and  moral  world,  than  the  natural,  and  when 
past,  leaves  truth  and  nature  more  verdant,  and  fra- 
grant, and  glorious  than  before. 

In  the  apportionment  of  studies  this  will  not  be 
found  destitute  of  many  advantages  : — let  each  pu- 
pil have  from  two  to  four  disciplinary  studies,  and 
from  four  to  six  of  the  easier  and  lighter  sort,  accord- 
ing to  circumstances.  And  this  applies  to  students, 
whether  they  are  to  be  educated  or  crammed.  In 
the  first  case,  and  where  languages  are  to  be  used 
as  the  instruments  of  the  drill,  let  the  pupil  have 
Latin  or  Greek,  or  both  languages,  every  day — the 
lessons  here  being  the  longest  and  most  fre(|uently 
occurring;  and,  in  addition,  let  him  have  a  suitable 
number  of  recitations  in  reading,  spelling,  geogra- 
phy, or  in  botany,  chemistry,  book-keejiing,  and  the 
like.  Or  he  may  have  a  lesson  in  languages,  while 
7 


134 


CIIAI'TER    IV. 


his  Other  severe  studies  may  be  algebra,  geometr}% 
logic.  Or  he  may  have  Latin  and  Greek  on  alter- 
nate days,  and  so  also  certain  mathematical  or  phi- 
losophical studies  ;  all  being  compounded  and  varied 
according -to  his  age,  capacity,  and  progress.  It 
languages  are  not  to  be  the  instrument,  then  parts 
of  the  mathematics,  mechanics,  logic,  or  mental 
philosophy  may  be  made  the  prominent  studies,  the 
secondary  being  as  has  been  just  stated. 

When,  for  special  reasons,  no  severe  studies  are 
allowed,  then  must  the  inferior  studies  be  taught  as 
rigorously  as  possible,  that  the  mind  may  be  a  little 
aided,  in  spite  of  ignorance  or  prejudice.  Some- 
times it  is  long  before  parents  find  out  the  good  "  mis- 
chief" the  teacher  is  guilty  of;  and  then  they  are 
usuall}'  well  enough  pleased  to  permit  the  evil  to  be 
continued.  This  is  often  the  case  in  arithmetic  ; 
when,  to  the  surprise  and  gratification  of  the  parent, 
it  is  discovered  that  the  boy,  although  despising  rules, 
can  solve  analytically,  and  from  the  merits  of  the 
question. 

When  it  is  designed  that  bo5's  shall  have  a  com- 
plete classical  education,  or  a  thorough  mathematical 
and  scientific  training,  the  study  of  history  and 
similar  matters  is,  if  not  an  absolute  waste  of  time, 
nothing  beyond  a  mere  recreation.  What  well-dis- 
ciplined mind  needs  one  to  teach  it  history,  botany, 
political  economy,  mineralogy,  and  a  host  of  "  knowl- 
edges?" Any  man  of  ordinary  capacity,  and  of 
ordinary  diligence,  can  master  all  these  at  home  :  he 
need  not  go  to  school,  save  for  such  as  are  illus- 
trated by  experiments.    But  such  will  be  considered 


ARllANGLNG    AND    MANAGING    THG    MATERIA!,. 


135 


studies,  and  so  studies  let  them  be.  The  force  of  a 
popular  vote  is  almost  omnipotent.  Among  the 
Athenians  the  popular  vote  constituted  common  cit- 
izens, who  had  never  served  a  campaign,  generals. 
A  philosopher,  struck  \vith  the  potency  of  the  fiat, 
advised  them  to  vote  "asses  to  be  horses  !"  Yet  if 
the  above-named  are  studies,  let  them  be  used  as 
studies,  and  not  as  reading  books. 

Is  history,  for  example,  to  be  used  as  a  discipline 
as  well  as  a  recreation?  Then  let  the  daily  lesson 
be  committed  to  memory.  A  less  perfect  memo- 
rizing is,  perhaps,  admissible  here  than  in  learning 
the  rules  of  a  grammar,  the  text  of  a  proposition,  or 
the  principles  of  science ;  and  yet,  if  less  perfection 
be  tolerated,  latitude  becomes  wider — the  inch,  the 
ell — till  there  happens  an  entire  departure  from  the 
starting-point. 

To  all  who  value  a  capacious  and  retentive  mem- 
ory, this  mode  of  studying  history  must  recommend 
itself,  especially  as  the  memory  is  thus  stored  with 
what  is  so  very  valuable.  And  if  history  be  not 
perfectly  remembered,  what,  pray,  is  its  great  use  ? 
If  a  busy  idleness  is  anywhere,  it  is  in  reading  his- 
tory in  schools  and  giving  the  sense! 

Tell  us  not,  this  cultivates  the  memory  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  judgment.  Does  any  one  dare  afiirm 
that  the  slovenly  reading  of  history  at  school,  culti- 
vates the  judgment  ?  Does  a  perfect  remembrance 
of  the  whole  lesson  impair  the  judgment,  or  prevent 
its  exercise  ?  If  it  does,  then  the  teacher  does  not 
understand  his  profession  ;  for  why  a  most  rigorous 
and  searching  examination,  and  cross-examination, 


136 


CIIAI'TER    IV. 


into  all  the  facts,  and  all  the  philosophy,  and  all  the 
inferences,  and  uses,  both  with  the  printed  questions 
and  others  not  printed,  is  not  possible  and  ought  not 
to  be  instituted,  at  every  recitation,  after  the  mem- 
ory has  done  its  part,  who  can  say? 

In  an  easy  matter  like  history,  the  boy  doubtless 
believes,  while  for  the  first  time  reading  what  is 
novel  and  interesting,  that  he  will  not  forget  it, — 
he  wishes  not  to  forget  it ;  but  in  a  few  days,  nay, 
a  few  hours  after  this,  he  remembers  the  promi- 
nent facts  possibly,  and  the  outlines — all  else  is  for- 
gotten. If  he  is  allowed  to  recite  what  he  can 
thus  remember,  or  simply  to  pick  out  answers  to 
printed  questions,  the  whole,  in  a  few  weeks,  be- 
comes a  jumble  and  a  jargon  in  his  mind.  Beside, 
the  boy  must  be  kept  busy  with  something.  If  not 
fully  occupied,  he  becomes  mischievous  ;  in  which 
he  indeed  is  to  blame  for  a  bad  disposition,  but  the 
false  system  for  its  cultivation,  or  at  least  its  non- 
resistance.  Easy  studies,  or  rather  no  studies,  open 
the  work-shop  for  the  great  enemy  ;  and  elementary 
schools  do,  in  this  way,  often  unintentionally,  become 
schools  of  vice.  There  is  a  closer  connection  be- 
tween severe  studies  and  virtue  than  superficial 
thinkers  suppose. 

As  to  the  rules  of  grammar,  the  texts  of  geome- 
try, the  leading  principles  of  any  art  or  science — all 
things  of  daily  and  hourly  application — these  should 
be  memorized  beyond  the  possibility  of  forgetful- 
ness ;  and  this  cannot  be  done  unless  the  very 
words  are  themselves  accurately  learned.  Indo- 
lence and  self-sufficiency  on  the  part  of  most  pupils 


AT!RAX(;i\G    AND    MANAGING    THE    MATERIAL. 


137 


will  usually  over-matcli  the  perseverance  of  the 
master  on  tiiis  point.  If,  however,  tlie  mind  is  to  be 
properly  disciplined,  its  perverseness  subdued,  its 
impatience  curbed — if  a  thousand  nameless  advanta- 
ges are  to  be  secured,  and  a  thousand  evils  pre- 
vented— the  master  must  be,  here,  inexorable.  He 
must  have  the  rule,  the  whole  rule,  and  nothing  but 
the  rule — nothing  more,  nothing  less,  nothing  substi- 
tuted, nothing  varied. 

A  very  serious  difficulty  arises  here  from  the  un- 
philosophic  verbiage  of  many  authors  in  ex^pressing 
their  rules — especially  the  parenthetical  and  explana- 
tory authors.  A  man's  heart  relents  at  compelling  a 
boy  to  get  by  heart  stuftj  mere  stulf!  the  vox praterea 
nihil.  He  begins  in  his  softened  state,  by  allowing 
the  boy  to  hunt  the  grain  of  wheal  in  the  bushel  of 
chaff;  for  which  indulgence  he  is  rewarded  the  next 
recitation  by  having  the  chaff  puffed  into  his  face  ! 
While  disturbed,  he  angrily  proceeds  to  winnow  out 
the  grain  for  the  pupil,  and  not  without  a  bitter  phi- 
lippic at  book-makers  and  book-venders.  Finally, 
he  abandons  the  class  to  its  fate.  Hence  the  half- 
learning  of  the  day. 

To  forget  a  rule,  or  not  know  where  to  find  it 
when  required,  is  to  enter  a  labyrinth  and  leave  the 
thread  at  the  door-way.  Neither  rule  nor  thread 
guides,  unless  carried  with  us.  A  subject  fairly 
mastered  by  incessant  application  of  rule,  stands  no 
longer  in  need  of  rule.  Few  masters  of  any  art  or 
science  recur  to  rules ;  knowing  the  whole  and  all 
the  parts,  the  labyrinth  being  not  only  explored,  but 


138 


CHAPTER    IV. 


mapped  and  lighted,  masters  become  guides  them- 
selves to  others. 

Boys  have  no  right  to  start  with  a  secret  persuasion 
that  law  and  rule  and  principle  are  not  well  founded. 
Nor  would  they  ever  dream  of  demanding  reasons 
before  they  can  understand  reasons,  if  the  profound 
ignorance  and  empty  conceit  of  plagiarizing  writers 
did  not  invite  and  tempt  them.  The  philosophy  of 
rule  is  a  study  for  men.  It  cannot  be  understood  in 
the  earlier  periods  of  an  education  ;  but  if  we  be- 
gin modestly  with  lifting  the  small  calf  over  the 
fence,  we  shall,  in  due  season,  end  with  flinging  over 
a  cow  or  a  bull,  or  even  a  brace  of  oxen,  yoke  and 
all! 

In  arithmetic,  the  general  principles  only  should 
be  memorized,  including  the  customary  tables  of 
weights, -measures,  and  the  like.  It  is  an  error  to 
commit  rules  for  the  special  application  of  the  gen- 
eral principles,  such  as  the  single  rule  of  three,  tare 
and  trett,  barter,  fellowship.  If  these  are  deemed 
important,  they  are  easily  enough  studied  by  exam- 
ples, whether  as  induction,  or  as  inference.  Discus- 
sion, however,  of  this  subject  is  here  unnecessary ; 
others  have  settled  the  matter ;  and  the  author  only 
says  what  is  here  written  to  show  that  his  opinion 
coincides  with  that  of  Colburn,  and  similar  masters 
of  the  subject.  Few  persons,  after  leaving  school, 
make  much  use  of  ordinary  arithmetics.  Most  mat- 
ters, in  a  promiscuous  business,  are  treated  and 
solved  according  to  the  merits  ;  while  brokers,  com- 
mission merchants,  bankers,  wholesale   merchants, 


ARRAX(;1X<:!    AN'U    MANAGING    THE    MATERIAL. 


139 


carpenters,  masons,  painters,  all  have  special  rules 
for  the  speedy  calculations  required  ;  and  which,  if 
the  clerk  or  apprentice  have  been  properly  disci- 
plined in  school,  and  have  become  master  of  fig- 
ures, he  can  learn  easily  in  a  few  weeks,  and  apply 
as  well  as  his  employer.  What  discipline  or  great 
exercise  of  mind  can  be,  other  than  in  the  analytical 
mode  of  studying  arithmetic,  or  of  treating  a  question 
according  to  its  merits,  is  hard  to  conceive.  A  bright 
boy  may  "  cipher  clean  through "  a  dozen  arith- 
metics, and  even  "the  rule  of  promiscuous  questions," 
and  yet  be  less  prepared  for  a  retail  store,  or  lumber 
yard,  than  an  equally  bright  chap  who  has  mastered 
Colburn's  ^''irst  Lessons,  and  the  first  part  of  his  Se- 
quel, in  which  pencil  and  chalk  aid  his  memory. 
The  latter  will  have  a  habit  of  mind  different  from 
the  former.  The  difierence  will  be  analogous  to 
playing  music  on  a  hand  organ,  or  on  a  violin  ;  or 
to  taking  a  portrait  by  the  apparatus  of  a  daguerreo- 
typist,  and  an  artist's  pencil  and  palette.  The  au- 
thor was  once  present  when  a  lady  went  into  some 
kind  of  fit — perhaps  hysterical.  It  was  in  the  woods 
where  physicians  there  were  none.  He  thought  he 
would  look  up  some  "  rule  "  in  Nicholson's  Cyclo- 
pedia, and  accordingly  he  turned  to  a  leading  arti- 
cle, at  which  was  a  reference  to  another,  and  here 
again  to  a  third,  till  nature  becoming  tired  of  the  de- 
lay, the  patient  got  well  of  herself.  And  so  a  cus- 
tomer, if  not  benevolent,  might  go  od'  before  a 
rule  could  bo.  fnuid,  by  which  to  work  out  his  ac- 
count. 

The  countless  imitators  of  Colburn,  who,  perhaps 


140 


CHAPTER    IV. 


introduced  into  tills  country  tiie  metliod  of  Pesta- 
lozzi,  prove  tiie  superiority  of  tlie  metiiod.  How 
tlie  system,  liowever,  escaped  being  nationalized? 
as  too  Italian  for  republicans  and  Protestants,  is  a 
wonder  !  It  is  quite  as  dangerous  as  Italian  music 
to  our  patriotism  and  virtue  !  If  some  patriot  could, 
indeed,  abolish  pounds,  shillings  and  pence,  and  let 
us  have  the  genuine  North  American  improvement 
of  dollars  and  cents,  in  all  arithmetics,  both  old  and 
new-fashioned,  he  would  deserve  a  statue.  How 
this  badge  of  continental  servitude  has  remained, 
with  a  people  so  sensitive  to  the  mere  semblance  of 
foreign  domination,  is  really  curious  ! 

5.  Nothing  is  more  important  than  review'ng 
studies.  But  here  many  difficulties  oppose,  and 
some  obstacles  almost  insurmountable  are  in  the 
way.  For  instance,  the  parents  and  pupils  are  anx- 
ious to  go  forward,  and,  therefore,  impatient  of  de- 
lay ;  thinking  that  where  much  ground  is  passed 
over,  there  the  progress  is  great.  Hence  frequent 
murmurings  and  direct  requests  that  children  shall 
be  put  forward — not  kept  back;  that  they  are  not 
to  attend  school  but  a  limited  time  ;  that  schoolingr 
is  very  dear,  and  it  is  wished  to  have  as  much  as 
possible  ;  and  sundry  similar  remarks  and  mes- 
sages, till  teachers  often  give  loose  reins,  and  allow 
the  untamed  and  fretful  to  run  as  they  please. 

But,  again,  reviewing  is  always  more  or  less  te- 
dious ;  the  interest  of  a  study  being  measurably 
diminished,  sometimes  lost,  with  its  novelty.  Where 
neither  pupil  nor  parent  makes  objections,  to  review 
fairly  is  a  hard  task,  or  rather,  an  irksome  task  ; 


ARRANGING    AND    MANAGING    THE    MATERIAf..  j^j 

and  nothing  but  a  well-disciplined  mind,  and  a  mind 
fired  with  the  love  of  learning,  can  voluntarily  sub- 
mit to  the  drudgery.  A  teacher  must  manage  well, 
who  insures  a  thorough  review,  and  yet  keeps  up 
the  alacrity  of  the  class.  And  without  thorough 
reviewing,  going  over  old  lessons  is  worse  than 
idleness — it  renders  mistakes  incorrigible.  It  gives 
a  fresh  lesson  in  error.  It  stamps,  like  a  branding- 
iron,  absurdity  and  falsehood.  More  care  is  neces- 
sary, in  reviewing,  to  have  all  exactly  right,  than  to 
learn  the  original  lesson.  Without  this,  better  by 
far  never  to  review  at  all. 

The  author  lays  no  claim  to  originality  in  nnming 
any  methods  of  his  own  ;  and,  therefore,  without 
insisting,  he  merely  names  the  following  as  a  good 
method  of  reviewing  : — the  daily  review  of  tlie  for- 
mer lesson.  At  least  this  is  an  excellent  method  in 
some  studies — languages,  for  instance,  geometry,  his- 
tory, grammar,  geography.  The  new  lesson  may 
claim  the  first  portion  of  time  at  the  recitation,  the 
former  lesson  the  remaining  time.  To  this  add  a 
monthly  review,  and  then  the  final  review,  previous 
to  the  examinations.  But  ever  let  there  be  con- 
nected with  the  final  review,  an  advance  into  new 
fields,  or  new  portions  of  old  fields.  This  keeps  the 
mind  fresh  and  active  ;  for  if  it  falls  into  the  listless- 
ness  incident  to  an  unmitigated  reviewing,  it  is 
M'^orse  prepared,  usually,  for  the  examination,  than  if 
it  had  not  reviewed.  This  is  one  fruitful  source  of 
disappointment  at  examinations :  the  mind  is  re- 
laxed and  dulled  by  injudicious  reviewing,  antl  it 
7* 


142 


CHAPTER  IV. 


cannot  and  will  not  be  aroused  and  brightened  in  a 
moment. 

It  may  not  be  concealed  that  examination  has  some- 
times its  trickery.  A  not  infrequent  trick  is  where  a 
boy  advances  about  a  third  part  or  a  half  of  the 
term,  and  is  ever  after  kept  reviewing  and  re-re- 
viewing a  mere  minimum,  till  he  has  it,  not  by  mem- 
ory, but  by  rote ;  and  then  failure  is  scarcely  possi- 
ble, unless  unexpected  questions  are  asked,  or  the 
boy  falls  asleep.  The  boy  might  have  done  reason- 
ably well,  and  yet  been  prepared  on  a  maximum 
quantity ;  and  the  maximum  in  both  quantity  and 
quality  should  be  regarded  in  the  estimation  of  ex- 
aminers. That  union  is  best  secured  by  daily  re- 
view of  the  preceding  lesson,  followed  by  the  occa- 
sional and  the  final  reviews.  A  boy  is  thus  always 
ready  for  examination. 

Some  ask  whether  public  examinations  are  advan- 
tageous to  the  school  or  to  the  pupil  ?  Others  have 
abandoned  them,  and  others  (perhaps  many  others) 
adhere  to  them  pro  forma.  As  often  conducted,  ex- 
aminations are  no  fair  test  of  a  boy's  progress  or 
his  master's  competency.  It  is  a  false  barometer  of 
the  literary  atmosphere.  Indeed,  examinations  not 
rarely  are  a  detriment  both  to  a  good  teacher  and  a 
good  scholar  ;  nay,  they  injure  even  a  bad  scholar. 
For  an  injudiciously  conducted  examination  makes 
superior  things  inferior  to  worse ;  it  discourages 
diligent  and  successful  scholars  by  preventing  the 
proper  exhibition  of  their  attainments,  and  em- 
boldens the  other  sort  in  idleness  and  impudence, 
by  allowing  the  display  of  one  single  attainment, 


ARRANGIN'G    AND    MANAUINC!    THE    MATERIA  I,.         j.^jj 

whilst  there  was  a  shameful  deficiency  in  a  dozen 
things  that  should  have  heen  well  known,  A  good 
school  can  be  less  hurt  by  no  examination,  than  by 
one  badly  contrived  or  badly  conducted.  A  studied 
injustice  to  a  boy  is  base  !  To  plan  that  an  idle  and 
disobedient  boy  shall  be  applauded  with  the  best,  is 
both  a  ineanness  and  a  folly ;  it  begets  contempt  in 
both  the  good  and  the  bad  ;  it  ruins,  and  deservedly, 
the  character  of  a  school.  But  this  injustice  and 
this  partiality  are  very  often  wholly  accidental. 
Not  infrequently  the  whole  evil  is  owing  to  injudi- 
cious or  mistaken  examiners.  A  teacher,  however, 
must  insist  on  reviews,  whether  he  have  public  exam- 
inations or  not.  To  teach  with  an  eye  to  an  examina- 
tion only,  is  not  always  honest,  and  is  often  punished 
by  a  complete  failure. 

Diligent  and  careful  teaching  daily,  with  daily 
reviews,  and  then  the  occasional  and  final  reviews, 
will  keep  a  school  always  ready  for  partial  or  gene- 
ral examinations  ;  and  nothing  else  will.    All  special 
and  extraordinary  drilling    for  an  examination   is ! 
wholly  improper,  and  almost  invariably  useless.     A 
boy  cannot  be  driven,  as  a  stage-horse,  at  a  small 
trot  for  nine-tenths  of  the  way,  and  a  hard  gallop  the 
other  tenth.     The   boy  will  break  down  or  rebel. 
He  must  keep  an  easy,  steady,  and  slightly  accele- 
rated pace  the  whole  way  ;  or,  if  we  may  be  allowed 
such  a  comparison,  he  must  keep  on  ever,  like  a  dog 
on  a  churn-wheel,  till  the  term  is  completed.     Tasks 
not  well  got  at  first,  and  fixed  by  daily  review,  are 
never   got ! — no,  never !     Vain  to  try  the    forcing 
system,  a  few  weeks  before  examination ;  there  is 


144 


f.lIAPTEK    IV. 


nothing  to  be  forced.  The  cistern  has  no  water  in 
it — the  forcing-pump  cannot  raise  what  is  not  there ! 
Teachers  are,  very  often,  not  in  the  least  to  bhime 
for  a  boy's  daily  deficiency.  For,  generally,  the 
pupil  will  not  make  up  his  deficiency,  unless  he  be 
kept  in  after  regular  school-hours,  and  forced  ;  but 
not  one  teacher  in  a  thousand  is  able,  if  he  were 
willing,  to  remain  one  or  two  hours  beyond  the  stip- 
ulated six  or  seven.  His  health  or  life  would  be 
the  forfeit;  because,  in  any  school  of  ordinary  size, 
some  scholars  are  always  deficient.  Not  a  day 
passes,  where  tasks  are  not  to  be  made  up  after 
school.  But  a  parent  has  not  the  shadow  of  a  right 
to  expect  the  extra  time  thus  to  be  devoted  to  his 
child,  unless  he  pay  an  extra  price — that  is,  in  an 
ordinary  day-school.  A  teacher  may,  therefore, 
even  if  able,  properly  enough  be  unwilling  to  remain 
every  day  an  hour  or  more  beyond  the  agreement. 
Those  day-schools,  however,  which,  from  any  ar- 
rangement arising  from  higher  price,  or  more  schol- 
ars, or  any  other  cause,  are  able  to  employ  assistants 
who  aid  in  keeping  in,  and  thus  compelling  delin- 
quents to  duty,  are,  other  matters  equal,  the  best. 

6.    As  to  examinations,  this  is  the  postulate  : — . 
Every  scholar  examined  must  have  full  opportunity 
to  show  all  that  has  been  studied  in  a  given  period. 
Has  the  scholar  properly  learned  nine  things,  and 
/  neglected  one  ?      Let  him  show  the  nine,  but  be 
I  justly  exhibited  deficient  on  the  one.    Has  he  learned 
I    but  one,  and  neglected  nine  ?     Let  him,  while  ex- 
posed for  the  gross  deficiency,  still  show  the  one. 
If  absent  by  any  connivance  of  friends,  still  let  his 


AUnANGING   A.\n   MANAGING    THE    MATKRIAl,. 


145 


real  standing  be  made  known  to  any  or  all  whose 
duty  and  right  it  is  to  know. 

For  the  fulfilment  of  the  condition  indispensable 
to  a  good  and  fair  examination,  two  things  must  be 
found : — Ample  Time,  and  a  Competent  Examincu. 
Where  examination  is  understood  as  a  mere  form, 
and  no  inferences,  adverse  or  favorable,  are  drawn 
from  the  form,  it  matters  not  how  little  time  is  al- 
lowed :  the  less,  commonly,  the  better.  One  hour 
may  do  as  well  as  one  day.  The  excitement  of  the 
thing  is  all  that  is  sought ;  and  it  answers  as  a  safety- 
valve,  if  it  plays  vigorously  an  hour  at  the  last. 
But,  if  a  true  examination  be  designed,  one  that  shall 
test  the  progress  and  excellency  of  pupils,  much 
time  must  be  taken.  Hurry  and  impatience  are 
absolutely  fatal  to  the  vitality  of  examination.  If 
worth  doing  at  all,  this  is  a  matter  that  must  be  well 
done;  and  it  cannot  be  well  done  in  a  short  time. 
Hence,  if  ample  time  be  not  devoted,  let  no  exami- 
nation take  place. 

The  time  can  only  be  approximated  in  a  general 
rule.  It  must  evidently  vary  with  countless  cir- 
cumstances ;  but,  as  a  rule,  not  less  than  one  entire 
hour  should  be  deemed  adequate  to  the  wants  of  a 
class  of  ten  ))upils.  On  some  subjects,  that  sized 
class  would  recpiii  L'  two  hours.  Schools,  if  honestly 
examined,  will,  according  to  their  size  and  studies, 
require  from  three  to  twelve  days  for  the  work. 

Many  persons,  of  remarkable  perspicacity,  profess 
to  judge  a  boy,  or  a  class,  from  a  sentence  !  or  even 
word  !  They  are  satisfied  with  one  question,  and  its 
answer!     And  these    short-metre  gentlemen.  wli«» 


HG 


CHAPTER    IV. 


infer  the  building  from  a  brick,  after  stepping,  with 
much  self-complacence,  into  an  examination,  and 
taking  a  very  keen  peep,  step  out  again,  and  make 
a  i-eport,  harmful  or  helpful,  as  they  have  conjec- 
tured or  guessed  wrong  or  right  ! — a  report,  how- 
ever, essentially  false,  whether  it  accidentally  injure 
or  aid.  To  do  justice,  men  must  hear  the  whole 
truth ;  and  that  cannot  be  heard  in  less  than  the 
whole  time.  And  if  the  whole  be  not  heard,  a  false 
witnessing  is  borne  against  the  neighbor's  school, 
and  the  neighbors'  cliildren. 

In  going  over  the  whole  subject,  at  an  examina- 
tion, every  member  of  a  class  should  be  allowed  the 
part  or  place  that  comes  to  him  naturally,  and  with- 
out contrivance — whether  it  be  easy  or  difficult, 
small  or  great  in  importance.  Let  each  show,  thus, 
what  he  does  know,  and  what  he  knows  not ;  what 
he  knows  perfectly,  or  superficially  ;  what  he  recites 
fluently,  or  with  hesitation.  There  should  be  no 
culling  to  favor  indolence,  or  capacity,  or  age,  or 
deficiencies  from  absence  during  term  time ;  let 
things  take  their  course,  the  hard  and  the  soft 
things  falling  where  they  may — explanations,  when 
necessary,  being  given,  from  time  to  time,  by  the 
teacher. 

Often  a  good  scholar  trips  on  a  very  small  parti- 
cle, and  a  bad  one  slides  along  happily  through  a 
great  difficulty ;  and  this,  sometimes  accidentally, 
sometimes  of  purpose  :  the  good  scholar  despising 
the  small,  and  expecting  the  grand  ;  and  the  bad 
one  having  specially  prepared  on  the  difficulty,  thus 
to  atone  for,  or  hide,  his  radical  deficiencies.     The 


ARRANGING   AXD  MANAGING  THE  MATERIAL.  247 

most  sagacious  teacher  is  not  always  a  match  for 
ingenious  calculation  and  contrivance  ;  and  it  is  not 
very  wonderful  that  a  stranger  should  be  "  done  " 
by  a  cunning  school-boy,  and  afterwards  laughed  at 
for  his  easy  credulity.  Opportunity  must  be  given, 
that  one  boy  may  show  that  his  single  failure  was  an 
accident,  or  an  oversight ;  and  that  another  may 
not  impose  a  single  satisfactory  answ^er,  or  fluent 
recitation,  as  a  fair  specimen  of  his  attainments. 

Dissatisfaction  is  the  ultimate  result  of  superficial 
examinations.  If  a  pupil  is  in  reality  a  fine  scholar, 
and  a  parent  has  reposed  a  manly  confidence  in  the 
teacher ;  and  if,  from  his  want  of  care,  such  a  pupil 
has  no  fair  opportunity  of  appearing  in  a  true  char- 
acter, and  is  deemed  by  strangers  on  a  level  with 
the  idle  or  inexpert,  that  pupil  will  sooner  or  later 
be  removed ;  and  usually  the  teacher  will  be  left  to 
guess  the  reason.  Or  if,  on  the  other  hand,  a  pupil 
has  been  idle,  and  yet  is  permitted  to  pass  for  an  in- 
dustrious and  good  scholar,  a  parent  feels  uncomfort- 
able when  congratulated  undeservedly  by  friends, 
and  secretly  despises  a  school  and  system  where 
falsehood  is  in  the  garb  of  truth  ;  or  he  loses  all 
confidence  in  the  sound  judgment,  if  not  the  in- 
tegrity of  the  master.  And  as  to  the  juipils  them- 
selves, from  unfair  examinations,  every  feeling  of 
discontent  and  of  contempt  arises  ;  and  all  induce- 
ment to  manly  and  generous  exertion  and  competi- 
tion is  removed. 

Such  are  the  inevitable  tendencies  of  bad  exam- 
inations. The  master  may,  indeed,  arrest  or  retard 
the  consequences,  by  an  open,  cJlndid  and  honorable 


J  48  CHAPTER  rv. 

disclosure  of  all  the  facts  in  regard  to  each  pupil ; 
and  that  he  should  in  justice  to  the  pupil,  and  in  self- 
defence,  always  do,  where,  from  any  accident  or 
oversight,  a  false  impi'ession  is  likely  to  be  left  on 
the  minds  of  examiners  or  spectators  and  auditors. 

The  other  thing  indispensable  to  a  good  examina- 
tion, is  a  competent  examiner. 

Before  proceeding  with  remarks  on  this  point,  the 
author  would  say,  that  many  gentlemen  who  are 
often  solicited  to  take  upon  them  the  office  of  exam- 
iners, are,  in  all  respects,  eminently  qualified  ;  that 
their  method  of  examining  is  worthy  all  praise  and 
imitation  ;  and  that  they  bestow  a  great  favor  upon 
a  school  and  upon  society  in  undertaking  the  severe 
labor  of  the  task.  The  remarks  that  follow  can 
have,  therefore,  no  application,  in  their  censuring 
character,  to  these  scholars  and  gentlemen.  In- 
deed, the  learning,  the  candor,  the  gentleness,  the 
benevolence  often  witnessed  in  these  by  the  writer 
at  various  examinations,  are  suggestive  rather  of 
the  following  remarks  ;  it  being  desirable  that  all 
examiners  should  resemble  the  persons  that  are 
now  praised,  and  on  behalf  of  the  profession,  thanked. 

An  examiner  should  well  understand  the  subject 
of  examination.  He  should  know,  not  merely  the 
prominent  places  or  things  isolated,  but  the  subject 
as  a  whole,  and  its  details  and  connections.  A  knowl- 
edge of  the  easier  things  only,  begets  disrespect  in 
a  class  and  in  the  intelligent  spectators,  and  makes 
many  suppose  that  such  comparatively  trifling  mat- 
ters are  unworthy  the  many  months  bestowed  on 
them  by  the  class.    'A  knowledge  of  some  few  diffi- 


ARRANGING   ANT)  MANAGING   TIIK  MATERIAL.  j^g 

culties  only,  causes  an  examiner  to  confine  himself 
to  the  better  portions  of  a  class,  and  tempts  him  to 
"stump"  the  poorer  scholars;  for  there  \vere  many 
things  these  scholars  knew,  and  knew  well,  but  these 
the  partial  examiner  either  did  not  know,  or  injudi- 
ciously undervalued.  Hence,  a  portion  of  the  class 
would  be  treated  with  injustice. 

An  examiner  of  this  partial  character  often  wan- 
ders oir,  and  asks  questions  connected,  indeed,  with 
a  subject,  but  rather  in  its  practical  bearings  on  his 
own  special  art,  trade,  or  profession.  Of  this  rela- 
tion the  class  knows  little  or  nothing,  and  during 
its  school  days  need  know  little  or  nothing.  The 
class  is  ready  for  examination  on  the  subject  in  its 
theory,  and  as  it  is  treated  in  a  text-book.  After 
the  examination  has  heen  restricted  to  this  book, 
till  examiners  are  satisfied,  then  excursions  are  al- 
lowable, often  desirable ;  and  in  arithmetic  and  all 
kindred  and  similar  subjects,  a  boy  may  be  asked 
properly  enough,  at  the  proper  time,  to  "  cipher 
beyond  his  book.'' 

Not  rarely  is  it  the  case  that,  if  an  examiner  knows 
many  things  not  in  tlie  book,  he  is  ignorant  of  more 
that  are  in  it;  and  the  class  does,  in  reality,  know 
the  subject,  as  a  whole,  better  than  he.  True,  they 
have  failed,  it  may  be,  to  answer  his  questions;  but  \ 
change  the  relations  of  the  two,  and  he  can  answer 
few  or  IT  ne  of  theirs.  Many  a  man  who  thinks  he 
has  confounded  a  class,  could,  in  turn,  be  discomfit- 
ed and  routed  by  the  class.  The  stumper  would 
be  stumped. 

An  examiner  should  be  not  only  willing,  but  able,  to 


J  50  CHAPTER    IV. 

let  boys  tell  and  show  all  they  know  and  have  done. 
But  this  he  cannot  do  if  unacquainted  with  their  text- 
books. There  is  reason  to  fear  that  occasionally 
examiners  delight  in  stumping  boys — some  from  im- 
proper temper,  and  many  from  misconception  of  the 
office  of  an  examiner.  It  is  cynical  purposely  to 
confound  a  class  ;  and  yet  a  class  is  often  purposely 
confounded,  where  the  disposition  of  an  examiner  is 
really  amiable.  He  mistakes  the  end  of  an  exami- 
nation, which  is  to  ascertain  what  has  been  learned 
and  how  it  is  understood.  The  true  critic  can  dis- 
cover wheat  as  well  as  chaff.  The  true  examiner 
can  find  something  to  praise  as  well  as  blame.  But 
if  it  be  resolved,  either  from  misconception  or  mal- 
ice-prepense, to  stump  a  class,  it  will,  indeed,  in  all 
likelihood  be  stumped  ;  and  yet  it  will  not  be  exam- 
ined. It  may  be  possible  thus  to  show  what  may 
not  be  known,  but  not  what  is  known ;  and  that  is 
injustice — injustice  to  teacher,  scholar,  parent, 
school,  community !  Besides,  a  certain  manner 
alarms  timid  boys,  confuses  slow  thinkers,  and  pro- 
vokes all,  till  they  cannot  tell  what  they  do  know, 
and  will  not  tell  if  they  can:  boys  will  not,  at  such 
times,  give  even  a  bone  to  a  dog. 

A  benevolent,  a  parental,  yes,  a  respectful  man- 
ner is  due  to  a  boy;  he  feels  manner,  and  then  acts 
spontaneously.  Hence,  some  men  show  ofl' — and 
honestly,  justly — show  off  a  class,  either  stumped  by 
others,  or  so  treated  that  they  would  not  answer. 

The  term  just  used,  is  used  with  consideration  ; 
for  why,  pray,  may  not  a  class  be  shown  off?  Ought 
it  not  to  be  shown  ofl'?     If,  indeed,  a  class  be  made 


ARRANGIXG  AND  MANAGING   THE  MATERIAL.  J  5  J 

to  show  what  is  superficially  known,  as  if  well 
known  ;  if  trifles  are  represented  as  weighty  ;  if,  in 
short,  any  deception  is  practised  upon  spectators  or 
parents,  all  that  showing  off  is  mean  as  well  as  dis- 
honest ;  but  if  a  class  can  be  made  to  show  off  flu- 
ently, brilliantly,  all  they  ought  to  know,  and  which 
they  do  fully  and  fairly  know,  that  is  not  only  right 
and  honorable,  but  a  failure  or  incompetency  to  do 
this,  is  itself  unjust  and  worthy  severe  rebuke. 

A  teacher  has  a  perfect  and  manifest  right  to  make 
his  class  appear  as  it  is.  It  is  folly  most  preposterous 
to  ask  or  expect  him  720^  to  exhibit  his  workmanship 
— the  result  of  his  art.  The  musician,  the  painter, 
the  poet,  every  tradesman,  professor,  artisan,  is  ex- 
pected to  "  show  off'  in  a  good  sense — to  put  his 
work  or  labor  in  its  best  light.  And  yet,  when 
classes  in  a  school  do  extraordinarily  well,  how  often 
does  a  contemptuous  and  ill-mannered  sneer  coun- 
teract the  proper  efl'ect  ?  "  The  class  was  shown 
off!"  And  so  it  was  —  and  so  it  should  have 
been.  He  that  can,  when  corrected  in  his  mis- 
take, hereafter  thus  sneer  at  a  splendid  and  yet 
honest  examination,  provided  he  have  learning  and 
sense  adequate  to  judge,  does  himself  deserve  to  be 
"  shown  off""  in  another  sense,  and  "done  up"  also. 

To  some  this  may  seem  severe.  It  is  not  so 
severe  as  is  often  merited.  A  long  and  intimate 
acquaintance  with  all  that  belongs  to  the  profession, 
compels  the  author  to  believe  that  some  folks  who 
pretend  to  examine,  and  some,  who  aflect  to  judge, 
deserve  the  ap})lication  either  of  "  the  nine  tails,"  or 
nine  rulers.     Some  ever  and  anon  speak  and  act  at 


152 


CHAPTER    IV. 


examinations  as  if  all  teachers  were  impostors,  and 
all  schools  humbugs — and  they  the  men  to  make  the 
expose. 

Examiners,  who  occupy  the  platform  or  chairs  at 
an  examination,  either  at  the  request  of  an  independ- 
ent teacher,  or  by  legislative  enaction  at  schools 
sustained  by  law,  should  ever  bear  in  mind,  that 
there  is  not  the  place  for  the  unnecessary  display 
of  their  own  reading  or  acumen.  IIow  often  do 
examiners  wander,  at  a  slight  temptation,  into  a  field 
away  from  the  true  one,  to  display  their  treasures  ? 
or  ask  a  question  which  can  be  answered  by  none 
save  themselves  ?  perhaps  not  even  by  the  principal 
or  any  assistant  !  And  then  some  other  examiner, 
provoked  or  tempted,  demurs,  doubts,  questions  the 
questioner,  till  all  the  grave  doctors  are  involved  in 
a  discussion.  The  class  meanwhile  remains,  some 
staring,  some  slyly  pinching  and  pushing  their  neigh- 
bors, and  others  quizzing  at  the  squabblers  on  the 
stage, — and  all  of  opinion  that  no  small  latitude 
should  be  indulged  to  the  boys,  where  their  masters 
have  so  much.  Finally,  the  hour  is  gone,  and  the 
class  retires — unexamined  !  the  teacher  is  baulked 
in  his  hopes — the  parents  provoked — the  boys  dis- 
appointed— the  school  hurt ! — all  because  the  exam- 
iners, instead  of  showing  the  boys  off,  preferred 
showing  themselves  ! 

There  is  one  impertinence — (very  rarely  exhib- 
ited, and  yet  it  has  been  seen) — an  impertinence 
provoking  almost  beyond  endurance.  An  empty- 
headed,  supercilious,  conceited  fellow  attends  the 
examination  pf  some  modest  and  laborious  young 


ARRANGING   AND   MANAGING   THr  MATERIAL. 


lo3 


teacher,  and  vexed  at  getting  an  improper  answer 
from  some  dunce, asks  with  surprise — "  What!  have 
you  never  been  taught  that?" 

"  Yes,  my  lord!"  the  young  teacher  might  reply  ; 
"yes,  an  hundred  times  !  but  the  boy  has  forgotten 
again,  as  for  months,  whenever  that,  and  similar 
questions  have  been  asked  of  him."  Prudence  or 
self-respect  restrains  what  more  is  thought — "  Sir, 
your  insolence  is  insufferable  !  leave  the  room  !" 

An  examiner,  to  say  all  in  a  few  words,  should 
be  a  good  general  scholar ;  specially  acquainted,  if 
not  versed,  with  what  he  examines  about ;  desirous  of 
doing  justice  to  all  parties  ;  happy  when  an  exami- 
nation goes  off  well ;  full  of  generous  confidence  in 
the  teacher  ;  never  yielding  to  the  temptation  of 
needless  display  of  his  own  learning  ;  patient  to  en- 
dure the  fatigue  of  the  whole  hour  ;  himself  a  pa- 
rent, or  at  least  a  person  fond  of  young  people  ;  and 
lastly,  one  who  perceives  the  value  and  importance 
of  schools  to  the  welfare  of  the  State. 

Provided  examiners  of  the  proper  kind  can  be 
procured,  the  favor  they  bestow  upon  a  teacher  is 
great;  and  they  well  deserve,  at  his  hands,  thanks. 
But,  generally,  a  teacher,  even  when  examiners  of 
his  own  choice  arc  present,  should  commence  the 
examination  of  every  class  himself;  and  when  the 
class  has  been  exhibited  as  it  really  is,  then  it  may 
be  committed  to  the  other  examiners  for  such  cross- 
examination  as  may  be  deemed  proper.  A  teacher, 
as  any  other  workman  or  artist,  may  reason- 
ably expect  to  sot  forth  his  own  performance,  or 
workmanship :  when  set  forth,  it   is  ready  for  criti- 


154 


CHAPTER    IV. 


cism.  Many,  very  many  little  accidents  of  an  unto- 
ward kind  arise,  even  when  the  most  excellent  and 
benevolent  examiners  commence  with  a  class,  un- 
less they  are  accustomed  to  examine  in  the  manner 
of  the  teacher ;  and  these  little  inconveniences 
either  materially  defeat  his  rational  hopes,  or  mar 
the  beauty  of  his  exhibition.  And  surely  none  is 
so  insensate  as  not  to  see  why  the  teacher  fears 
this  frustration  of  his  hopes,  or  so  cruel  as  to  be 
indifferent  to  his  feelings  !  Would  any  daub  a  por- 
trait, or  mutilate  a  statue,  at  the  moment  the  artist 
withdrew  the  curtain  to  reveal  his  approximation  to 
the  beau  ideal  ?  If  so,  then  would  he  voluntarily 
confuse,  perplex,  awe  a  class,  the  moment  it  was 
presented  for  examination. 

But  whoever  examines,  whether  teacher  or  friend, 
this  examiner  should  be  uninterrupted  till  he  has 
done.  Others  present  should,  on  no  pretext  or  from 
no  temptation,  break  in  with  a  question — unless 
the  teacher  wishes  to  explain  the  situation  of  the 
class  or  a  pupil.  This  is  common  ;  but  evidently  it 
savors  of  disrespect  to  the  examiner.  Often  the 
question  of  the  others  is  wholly  unnecessary  ;  since 
the  examiner,  if  not  interrupted,  would  in  due  time 
have  asked  that  very  question.  The  proper  time 
for  the  others  is  when  the  examiner  has  satisfied 
himself,  or  has  occupied  the  allotted  time  ;  and  then 
any  one  who  wishes  further  examination  can  pro- 
pound his  questions  ;  but  he  should  avoid  any  allu- 
sion to  his  predecessor's  error  or  inattention. 

Upon  the  whole,  proper  examinations,  and  prop- 
erlv  conducted,  are  advantageous  to  the  school  and 


ARRANGLXG   AND  MANAGING  THE   MATERIAL.  255 

to  the  community :  ail  other  examinations  are  at 
best "  a  bore,"  often,  a  nuisance.  The  present  chapter 
may  be  concluded  with  a  few  remarks  on  a  subject 
closely  connected  with  examinations — Exhibitions. 

Exhibitions  are,  in  reality,  examinations  in  read- 
ing, speaking,  and  writing.  They  are  continuations 
of  the  examinations.  Like  all  other  matters,  they 
may  be  good,  bad,  indifferent.  When  indifferent, 
courtesy  may  incline  the  spectators  to  endure  the 
infliction  with  little  external  wincing  ;  but  a  bad 
exhibition  is  too  insufferably  ridiculous  and  painful 
for  ordinary  kindness  or  art  to  control  the  faces  of 
the  patients.  Some  things  must  be  almost  perfect 
for  exhibition — paintings,  statues,  music :  others 
must  be  at  least  good ;  and  of  this  sort  is  a  school 
exhibition. 

A  bad  exhibition  consists  of  speeches  illy  selected, 
prepared  with  no  care,  and  delivered  without  art, 
and,  therefore,  spite  of  seeming  paradox,  without 
nature :  add,  want  of  taste  and  skill  in  the  whole 
arrangement.  Such  are  not  only  intolerable  ;  they 
are  of  mischievous  tendency,  both  in  regard  to  the 
people  and  the  scholars.  They  should  be  forbidden 
by  an  act  of  the  Legislature. 

We  have  many  excellent  books  on  the  theory  and 
practice  of  elocution :  some  arc  worthy  of  all 
praise  ;  and  yet  many  schools  seem  unacquainted 
with  these  works,  or  do  not  know  how  to  use 
them.  Perhaps  many,  after  all  that  has  been  writ- 
ten, determine  "to  let  common  sense  guide,  and 
nature  take  her  own  course  ;"  the  admirable  results 
of  which  compendious,  labor-saving  process,  is  seen 


156 


CHAPTER    IV. 


once  or  twice  a  year,  in  town  or  country,  in  the 
wonderful  absurdities  in  the  way  of  public  reading 
and  speaking  at  exhibitions.  If  all  this  is  nature, 
art  can  beat  her  ! 

But,  while  a  bad  exhibition  is-  disgustful  and 
harmful,  a  good  exhibition  is  a  rich  treat  to  the 
hearers,  and  highly  advantageous  to  the  scholars. 
That  it  is  a  pleasure  to  people  of  sense  and  refine- 
ment, is  apparent  from  the  eagerness  with  which 
such  crowd  to  any  place  where  a  good  exhibition 
is  expected ;  from  the  profound  attention  through  a 
whole  evening  when  the  expectation  is  realized ; 
and  the  spontaneous  applause  that  breaks  forth,  and 
even  when  its  external  showing  is  discouraged,  per- 
haps deprecated.  That  it  is  useful  to  scholars,  all 
teachers  that  know  what  good  exhibitions  mean, 
can  testify.  And  who  but  can  see  that  it  must 
naturally  elevate  the  character  of  a  boy,  when  he 
feels  himself  of  sufficient  consequence  to  aid  in 
drawing  a  company  of  intelligent  and  cultivated 
persons  of  both  sexes,  to  hear  him  read  or  speak? 
to  know  that  he  is  heard  with  pleasure — nay,  with 
a  marked  interest  and  fixed  admiration  ?  He  is  more 
and  more  fearful  of  stepping  down  from  his  moral 
eminence:  he  discovers  himself  in  a  superior  caste, 
and  will  not  lightly  lose  it. 

Evils  are  doubtless  incident  here,  as  in  all  compe- 
titions, or  aspirings  ;  but  these  evils  are  not  peculiar 
to  schools.  Manly,  honorable,  generous  competi- 
torship  is  inseparable  from  active  life.  It  meets  us 
everywhere ;  and  without  it  life  would  become  a 
stagnant  pool  exhaling  its  pestiferous  miasma  ;  while 


ARRANGING   AND   MAN AClNiI   THE   MATERIAL. 


157 


with  it,  life  is  a  noble  river,  bearing  on  its  rolling 
waves  health,  honor,  enjoyment,  happiness,  pros- 
perity. By  nature,  we  are  sensitive  to  praise  and 
blame.  In  accordance  with  a  law  of  our  constitu- 
tion, rewards  of  some  kind  may  be  held  out  as  col- 
lateral inducements  to  virtue.  Reward  is  proposed 
in  the  Word  of  God,  and  bestowed  upon  men  by  the 
Author  of  our  being.  The  blessed  Saviour  himself 
had  "  an  eye  to  the  recompense  of  reward  ;"  and  an 
apostle  exhorts  men  so  to  run  that  they  may  obtain 
a  prize — "  a  crown  of  glory  and  reward." 

Difficulty  doubtless  exists  in  arranging  a  system 
of  rewards  and  accessory  excitements.  Teachers 
would  certainly  often  consult  their  own  ease,  some- 
times their  own  emolument,  by  afibrding  no  oppor- 
tunity of  generous  emulation  ;  and  thus  permitting 
the  somewhat  stormy  elements  of  human  nature  to 
sleep  undisturbed  beneath  the  smooth  and  stagnant 
surface.  But  when  the  pupils  emerge  from  this 
quiescent  pool,  and  come  suddenly,  unarmed,  unprac- 
tised, untutored,  amidst  the  tumultuating  waves  and 
angry  storms  of  unavoidable  rivalry  and  competi- 
torship,  they  must  be  vanquished,  or  retire,  alarmed 
and  spiritless,  from  many  important  and  active  du- 
ties and  enterprises  of  life.  Education  is  incom- 
plete, if  the  soul  be  not  strengthened  by  the  manly 
and  emulous  and  friendly  contests  of  honorable  com- 
petition. 

One  means  or  opportunity  for  proper  display,  for 

manly  competition,  for  the  rewards  of  approbation 

and  praise  from  worthy  men,  citizens  and   friends, 

is  furnished  by  an  exhibition.      The  abuse  of  this,  or 

H 


J  53  CHAPTER  rv. 

the  failure  to  have  a  good  one,  from  the  indolence, 
the  incompetency  of  the  teacher,  or  other  cause, 
we  cannot  admit  as  argument  against  the  whole  sys- 
tem. Several  things,  however,  are  indispensable  in 
procuring  a  good  exhibition. 

The  principal,  or  his  vicegerent,  or  whoever  pre- 
pares for  the  exhibition  and  superintends  it,  must  be 
a  man  that  enters  into  the  feelings  of  the  boys — and 
like  a  boy  !  He  may  moderate  himself;  he  is  not 
expected  to  behave  exactly  as  a  boy  ;  he  is  ex- 
empted from  talking  loudly  and  earnestly,  from 
jumping,  clapping  his  hands,  from  hurrahing  in  the 
exuberance  of  joyous  feeling  ;  but  he  must  look  as 
if  he  would  do  all,  if  he  dared.  Nor  must  this  be 
an  exterior  garb  put  on  for  the  occasion,  or  for  pol- 
icy's sake — which,  however,  boys  will  respect,  for 
they  always  respect  what  is  evidently  done  to  please 
or  profit  them  ;  but  the  principal  must  struggle  to 
repress  a  spring  bubbling  up  from  a  warm  youthful 
heart.  That  boys  love  !  And  then  they  will  hur- 
rah for  the  exhibition  ;  and  if  they  do  not,  it  will  be  a 
failure. 

Enthusiasm  will  do  much.  It  will  not,  however, 
do  all.  There  must  be  the  most  laborious  and 
artistical  drill.  Speeches  must  be  selected  accord- 
ing to  age,  size,  capacity,  voice,  port,  mien,  of  every 
boy.  And  every  word,  nay,  almost  every  syllable 
and  letter,  must  be  analyzed,  weighed,  mastered. 
But  love  for  the  master  and  enthusiasm  will  carry 
all  safely  through.  Otherwise,  all  will  be  mere 
labor,  spiritless  and  profitless.  In  regard  to  selec- 
tions, a  single  word  of  caution  is  deemed  necessary. 


ARRANGING  AND  MANAGING  THK  MATERIAL.  159 

because  the  evil  alluded  to  is  common,  almost  uni- 
versal. No  speech  with  direct  addresses  to  God,  in 
the  manner  of  a  prayer,  should  be  chosen  ;  nor 
should  that  venerable  name  be  unnecessarily  re- 
peated in  an  exhibition  speech.  Other  words  can 
easily  be  substituted,  and  a  slight  periphrasis  avoid 
all  irreverence.  At  least,  this  may  always  be  done 
with  prose  composition,  and  very  often  with  po- 
etical. 

Manifestly,  whoever  drills  or  prepares  for  the  ex- 
hibition must  know  well,  if  not  thoroughly,  all  that 
belongs  to  reading  and  speaking.  If  he  possesses 
power  in  practice,  still  better  ;  and  then  if  suitable 
time  be  bestowed,  and  the  material  be  of  average 
good  ({uality,  the  exhibition  will  be  good.  Let  it  be 
specially  noticed,  that  no  time  whatever  is  necessa- 
rily taken  from  what  are  deemed  the  more  impor- 
tant studies.  Yet,  why  elocutionary  exercises  are 
not  among  the  most  important  studies,  and  why  they 
should  not  have  due  time,  it  would  be  a  very  diffi- 
cult undertaking  to  show.  All  other  knowledge, 
and  the  hard  study  of  long  years,  is  often  absolutely 
useless  for  want  of  proper  drilling  in  elocution  !  Still, 
beyond  the  ordinary  time  given  every  week  to  com- 
positions and  speeches,  in  most  academies  worth  the 
name,  scarcely  an  hour  need  be  used  in  preparing 
for  an  exhibition.  This  may  surprise  some ;  but 
many  teachers  who  present  the  most  elaborate  and 
tasteful  and  even  recherche  aflairs,  in  this  respect,  take 
only  the  ordinary  time,  and  the  "odds  and  ends"  of  time 
that  would  otherwise  be  wasted,  or  applied  to  un- 
worthy uses.     Brick — and  very  fine,  pressed,  smooth 


2(50  CHAPTER  IV. 

brick — may  be  made  by  the  skilful  master,  and  yet 
the  boys  be  made  to  find  straw  without  diminishing 
aught  of  daily  tasks  and  studies.  The  properly  ex- 
cited and  skilfully  directed  enthusiasm  of  the  boys 
will  "  scatter  them  through  all  Egypt,"  in  joyous 
search  of  material. 

Here,  too,  is  a  secret.  Expectation  looking  to  the 
end  of  a  term,  and  labor*employed  at  play  hours  for 
that  end,  is,  first,  a  healthy  incitement  as  to  other  les- 
sons, and  secondly,  a  safety  valve  for  the  steam  of 
exuberant  feeling,  that  would  often  otherwise  ex- 
plode in  mischief  and  rebellion.  Hence  good  exam- 
inations usually  attend  good  exhibitions.  Idle  fel- 
lows, too,  who  without  the  exhibition  would  have 
learned  nothing,  will,  for  fear  of  being  left  out,  study 
^little  daily.  Sometimes  they  turn  into  studious  fel- 
lows ;  and  where  that  is  not  the  case,  they  at  least 
acquire  reading  and  speaking. 


CHAPTER    V. 


SCHOOLS,  IN  THEIR  KINDS,  SORTS  AND  VARIETIES. 

Education  divides  itself  into  public  and  private. 
The  comparative  excellency  of  these  kinds  has  ar- 
rayed hostile  opinions.  But  to  the  vast  majority  of 
persons,  whatever  be  the  preference  and  the  rea- 
sons for  that  preference,  there  can  be  one  choice 
only — the  public.  Domestic  training  of  children  in 
all  that  is  important  and  desirable,  is  possible  to  very 
few  ;  while  a  number  that  can  be  counted,  ready  to 
pay  lavishly  for  private  tutors  of  the  proper  char- 
acter, find  that  these  cannot  be  obtained. 

Wherever  choice  is  ])ossible,  where  necessity 
compels  not  to  this  surrender  of  a  manly  independ- 
ence, the  best  men  and  the  best  teachers  will  hardly, 
for  a  princely  estate,  merge  their  identity  into  that 
of  a  household.  They  feel  this  a  species  of  service 
little  superior  to  that  of  a  head  servant.  Some  ex- 
cellent and  learned  persons  may  condescend  to  be- 
come private  tutors  and  governors  in  regal  palaces, 
and  princely  domes — the  specialty  of  the  case 
makes  them  willing  ;  but  generally  all  such  men 
feel  it  a  species  of  degradation,  a  sinking   of   the 


152  CHAPTER  V. 

teacher  into  the  pedagogue.  In  countries  where 
the  democratical  lineaments  are  strong  in  the  fea- 
tures of  society,  men  that  can  do  anything  else,  will 
not  become  private  tutors.  They  will  never  dig 
with  a  little  hoe  on  one  sterile  patch,  when  they  can 
drive  a  plough  and  furrow  up  a  thousand  fertile 
acres  !  Never  will  they  voluntarily  circle  around, 
wheel-like,  in  a  single  groove,  while  they  can  roll 
like  a  free  locomotive  over  a  wide-spread  prairie 
world  !  They  nurse  no  hot-house  plants,  who  can 
grow  an  hundred  sturdy  oaks  !  Be  it  so — that  some 
prefer  to  nourish  a  brood  long  after  fledging  ;  others 
that  can  have  a  public  school,  will  not  sit,  goose  or 
gander,  over  effeminate  cacklings  ! 

This  repugnance  at  becoming  private  tutors,  and 
the  fact  that  few  of  choice  do  become  such,  or  long 
remain  such,  show,  among  others,  two  things :  the 
impossibility  of  making  private  education  general, 
and  the  probability  that  private  education,  if  pos- 
sible, is  not  the  better,  nor  more  desirable. 

Here,  then,  further  remark  may  be  arrested  as  to 
its  influence  on  the  conduct  of  the  majority  of  pa- 
rents ;  yet  they  who  are  forced  by  circumstances  to 
educate  in  company,  or  in  public,  may  be  measura- 
bly consoled  by  the  fact  that  education  in  good  pub- 
lic or  associate  schools  is  superior  to  private  or  sol- 
itary education  ;  and  that  wise  men  act  as  if  they 
so  believed,  preferring  of  choice  the  former  to  the 
latter,  when  they  themselves  teach. 

Objections  to  public  education  concentrate  into 
this  :  the  necessity  of  exposure  to  bad  company,  the 
contagion  of  evil  example,  and  the  harm  to  elegant 


SCHOOLS,  IN  THEIR  KINDS,  SOKTS  AND  VAHIETltt;.         |  gjj 

and  refined  manners  from  contact  witfi  occasional 
vulgarity,  or  less  refinement  and  polish. 

Solicitude,  on  the  score  of  morals,  cannot  be  too 
great ;  and  evil  tendency,  generated  or  increased 
by  community  and  companionship,  if  unchecked,  or 
not  counterbalanced  by  an  opposite,  may  generally, 
and  must  in  special  cases,  terminate  in  ruin  tempo- 
ral and  eternal.  But  while  evil  tendencies  are  not 
opposed  in  schools  where  religion  is  a  subordinate 
consideration  with  teachers  or  trustees  ;  or  where 
prevalent  vice  is  constant ;  or  where  parental  influ- 
ence is  in  unison  with  the  evil  of  the  school ;  it  does 
not  follow  that  schools  may  not  have  within  them- 
selves countervailing  influences  for  good,  and  that 
parental  training  may  not  coincide  with  their  whole- 
some discipline  and  instruction. 

The  amount  of  evil  in  most  schools  is  over-rated 
and  mis-stated.  The  character  of  the  evil  is  often 
not  even  understood.  Where  domestics  are  em- 
ployed, and  where  any  companions  are  allowed  to 
associate  with  children,  they  will  be  exposed  to  as 
much  evil  at  home  as  at  school,  not  infrequently  to 
more  and  greater  evil.  To  isolate  children  so  per- 
fectly as  to  cut  them  off"  from  all  contact  with  evil 
is  not  practicable,  nor  is  it  desirable  ;  but  if  chil- 
dren are  shut  up,  a  kind  of  prisoners,  within  rooms 
and  yards,  separate  from  all  playmates,  they  will 
yet  corrupt  themselves.  This  may  not  be  in  the 
ways  and  with  the  words  of  school-boys,  but  in  ways 
and  with  words  equally  bad.  We  cannot  bring  a 
clean  thing  from  an  unclean  ;  children  in  puris  nat' 
uralibiis,  under  the  most  favorable  of  domestic  cir- 


164  CHAI'TER    V. 

cumstances,  it"  yet  sutlered  to  be  together  a  few 
hours  every  day,  will  demonstrate  the  truth  of  Da- 
vid's words,  who  confesses  that  "  he  was  shapen  in 
iniquity."  The  conduct  of  children,  however 
guarded,  soon  confutes  our  philosophies,  and  it  yet 
remains  true,  "  what  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh." 
Besides,  fences  have  loop-holes  through  which  a 
wicked  world  will  peep,  and  gates  at  which  curious 
impertinence  will  intrude ;  the  idlers  of  streets, 
lanes  and  alleys,  in  unguarded  seasons,  will,  in  an 
hour,  communicate  as  much  contamination  as  a 
school  in  a  week  !  As  well  barricade  against  an 
atmosphere  loaded  with  small-pox :  pestilence,  nat- 
ural or  moral,  equally  scorns  mechanical  contri- 
vance ! 

But  what  if  children  could  be  isolated  perfectly, 
and  contamination  sprang  not  up  from  within,  and 
were  fenced  from  without  !  how  deplorable  the  re- 
sults of  excessive  caution  when  these  tender  nurs- 
lings came  to  be  launched  forth  on  a  sudden  into  the 
great  world  of  evil  !  Temptation  before  had  never 
assailed  ;  and  resistance  had  never  tested  its  own 
force,  nor  been  trained  to  employ  caution  and  skill. 
Peril  would  be  as  imminent  as  when  the  theoretic 
navigator  is  suddenly  transferred  from  his  diagrams 
and  tables  to  the  helm,  to  guide,  lor  the  first,  a  noble 
ship  in  a  starless  and  Egyptian  darkness,  amid  the 
howling  billows  of  a  raging  sea,  and  the  loud  thun- 
dering of  angry  winds  ! 

In  all  things  practice  is  necessary.  Strength  must 
be  tested  and  increased  by  trial  of  small  ditiiculties, 
before  it  may  grapple  successfully  with  tlie  great. 


SCIIUOLS,  IN  TUKIK  KINDS,  SORTS  ANJJ  VARIETIES?         jg^ 

Virtue  thai  would  yield  to-day  will  triumjih  to-mor- 
row. Children  may  become  adults  in  years  and 
size,  and  yet  morally  remain  children  ;  but  what 
was  delightful  naivete  once,  becomes  now  disgust- 
ful affectation.  There  is  doubtless  a  sense  in  which 
the  world  may  be  known  without  our  being  con- 
taminated ;  and,  in  a  degree,  children  should  have 
that  knowledge  ;  for  while  needful  contact  with  the 
world  will,  in  time,  give  all  important  and  indispen- 
sable lessons,  these  lessons  may  come  too  late  for 
our  own  advantage  and  happiness.  To  this,  and 
much  similar  argument,  will  be  opposed  an  opinion 
of  many  worthy  and  yet  mistaken  people,  that  God 
will  graciously  interfere  to  protect  our  children  in 
maturity,  if  we  carefully  guard  them  in  childhood  from 
all  mingling  with  tiie  world  and  exposure  to  its 
temptations.  It  may  be  so.  Perhaps  it  is  some- 
times the  case  that  Providence  specially,  and  almost 
miraculously,  guards,  where  the  conditions  of  his 
interference  have  been  ignorantly  overlooked ;  yet, 
as  reason  is  given  for  a  guide,  if  we  overlook  or  neg- 
lect its  teaching,  we  may  be  tempting,  when  we 
think  ourselves  trusting  God.  Too  sedulous  and 
suspicious  a  care  of  health,  and  a  cowardly  avoid- 
ance of  every  real  or  seeming  danger,  may  ruin  the 
health  and  spirits ;  and  so,  too  anxious  guarding 
against  moral  evil,  may  produce  it !  We  may  train 
up  a  child  in  the  way  he  should  go,  and  yet  the 
very  path  may  run  near  to,  or  occasionally  intersect 
that  path  in  which  he  should  not  go,  \(  a  child  is 
to  live  in  the  world,  he  must  be  brought  up  in  it  as 
8* 


l.gg  CHAPTER    V. 

well  as  for  it ;  he  must  be  taught  how  to  discern 
the  true  path,  however  interlaced  with  a  thousand 
false  paths. 

As  regards  intellectual  superiority,  if  proper  emu- 
lation, always  duly  excited,  and  contests  in  endless 
succession,  and  the  laws  of  sympathy  in  aiding  asso- 
ciates, have  anything  to  do  with  mental  discipline, 
public  education  must  excel  private.  Temper  and 
disposition  may  be  severely  tried  in  school  ;  but 
that  very  trial  must,  in  the  end,  render  these  more 
calm,  less  selfish,  and  less  easily  ruffled.  A  sweet 
may  be  more  palatable  by  a  tinge  of  bitter  or  acid. 
Good-nature  is  very  often  a  mere  negative  quality, 
arising  from  well  organized  bodies,  when  all  around 
is  placid  and  cheerful,  and  where  no  great  oppo- 
sition to  the  will  is  encountered ;  but  many  a' boy 
deemed  a  mere  non-pareil  at  home,  for  softness  and 
amiability,  becomes,  afterwards,  peevish  and  quar- 
relsome. If  this  woful  change  is  discovered  after  he 
has  been  trusted  among  comrades  at  school,  it  is  al- 
most invariably  attributed  to  the  influence  of  a  pub- 
lic school.  But  the  boy,  during  his  domestic  train- 
ing, had  been  tested  by  no  temptation.  He  had 
"  not  knowai  sin,"  indeed,  because  he  had  not  known 
law  adverse  to  his  will ;  but  now  came  "  knowledge 
of  the  law,"  and  his  true  temper  appeared.  The 
touchstone  revealed  him.  But  the  school  is  no 
more  to  be  blamed  for  this,  than  the  Gospel  for  that 
"  sword  "  it  so  often  sends.  Strong  and  wholesome 
food  disagrees  with  weak  digestion.  The  bad  grain 
of  the  boy's  temper   was   always  in  existence — its 


SCHOOLS,  IN  THEIR  KINDS,  SORTS  AND  VARIETIES.       jg^ 

visibility  to  the  eyes  of  his  fond  parents,  depended 
on  a  rubber.  Happy  \vhen  the  disclosure  comes 
early  enough  for  a  remedy  ! 

If  a  prince  is  to  be  formed,  who  is  expected  to 
live,  in  most  things,  above  and  separate  from  his  fel- 
lows ;  or  if  a  boy  may  be  educated  in  a  republic,  that 
he  move  in  self-called  sujierior  classes,  in  an  upper 
caste,  let  him  have  private  tutors.  Let  one  teach 
him  how  to  walk  and  dance  ;  another  how  to  ride 
and  fence  ;  another  may  give  him  the  airs  of  high 
life,  (unless  he  be  born  to  all  this,  and  take  it  natu- 
rally ;)  and  let  separate  teachers  do  for  him  every 
separate  thing  to  be  done,  and  we  may  attain  the 
end.  But  if,  in  this  country,  boys  are  to  live  on 
something  like  Spartan  equality,  they  must  be  edu- 
cated as  associates.  Fellow-feeling  must  be  culti- 
vated by  exercise  ;  but  what  exercise  can  be  in  a 
solitary  or  even  domestic  training,  compared  with 
the  exercise  in  a  jniblic  school  ?  Doubtless,  much 
addressed  to  republicans  as  to  a  national  education, 
savors  of  demagogism  ;  occasionally  it  is  revolu- 
tionary, agrarian  and  anti-christian  ;  and  yet  none 
can  fail  to  see  that  separate  and  private  education, 
if  very  general,  would  be  adverse  to  the  best  inter- 
ests of  a  republican  government.  Our  endeavors, 
then,  should  be  bent  towards  making  public  schools 
perfect,  and  not,  because  of  a  few  evils  and  some 
abuses,  to  their  annihilation. 

The  complexion  of  manners  is  colored  in  the  do- 
mestic circle ;  the  child  reflects  what  there  shines 
upon  him.  Foreign  aid,  if  deemed  indispensable, 
can  easily  be  called  in  to  impart  additional  graces, 


168  CHAPTER   V. 

and  this  without  great   interference  with  the  train- 
ing of  the  school.      But   in  regard    to  boys,  what 
more  important  or  necessary,  what  more  manly  and 
dignified,  than   the    discipline    of  a    properly  con- 
structed gymnasium,  under  the  charge    of  an  ac- 
complished gymnast;  to  which  is  added  the  man- 
ners of  his  own  home  ?     Perhaps,  had  the  author 
moved  all  his  life  among  the  dancing  world,  and  if 
ambitious  of  figuring  and  attitudinizing  in  saloons, 
on  "light  fantastic  toe,"  his   taste  would  have  been 
altered  or  rectified,  and  his  obtuseness  been  prop- 
erly attrite  to  an  edge  ;  but  at  present  he  cannot  dis- 
cern what  a  7nan  wants  beyond  the  strength,  grace? 
agility,  and  noble  port  of  the  gymnasium — all  soft- 
ened and  guided  by  the   advice  and  manners  of  an 
intelligent  father,  mother,  and  sisters.     If  his  liome 
be  vulgar  in  opposition   to  polite,  in  the  fashionable 
parlance,  no  training  of  the   body  by  foreign  mas- 
ters can  give  a  boy  manners  :  the   graces  at  home 
must  mould,  direct,  elevate,  refine,  chasten  !     If  the 
graces  do  not  enliven  and  adorn  the  home,  the  boy 
can  be  refined   only  by  intercourse,  in  after  days, 
with  the  world. 

Schools  are,  indeed,  some  bad,  and  some  good. 
Parents  may,  they  must,  prefer  the  good,  the  better, 
or  the  less  bad.  Justice  to  the  children  and  to  so- 
ciety not  only  allows,  but  demands  this.  But  some- 
times the  choice  is  between  a  bad  school  and  710 
school.  In  that  case,  let  parents  unhesitatingly  pre- 
fer no  school — and  that,  whether  the  child  can  learn 
anything  at  home  or  not;  for  nothing  can  be  worse 
than  a  bad  school,  even  if  the  schooling  is  bestowed 


yt'UUOLH,  l.\  THEIR  KLNUS,  SORTS  AM)  VAKIEIIKS.        j  (39 

as  a  gratuity  !  Yet  no  child  need  be  idle,  even  if 
he  cannot  be  schooled.  If  the  means  of  the  parent 
will  not  pay  for  such  private  tutors  as  may  be  cjol, 
and  he  cannot  teach  the  boy  himself,  he  may  keep 
him  at  work,  or  send  him  to  learn  a  trade. 

A  boy  apprenticed  to  an  intelligent  and  benevo- 
lent master,  who  conscientiously  affords  opj)ortuni- 
ties  ibr  mental  culture,  insists  on  that  culture,  and 
encourages  the  etfort — a  boy  thus  situated  will,  by 
his  own  exertions,  learn  vastly  more  than  in  a  bad 
school  ;  and  his  morals  will  be  as  much  safer  as 
they  would  be  in  a  church  instead  of  a  circus  or  a 
theatre.  A  bad  school  is  not  inferior  to  either  a 
circus  or  a  theatre  ;  evil,  almost  unmixed  with  good, 
can  be  learned  in  any  of  the  jilaces,  although  the 
evils  may  be  different. 

Schools  may  be  bad  in  two  ways — intellectually 
and  morally.  The  intellectually  good  may  be  morally 
bad;  but  the  intellectually  bad  are  not  often  morally 
good.  When  morally  bad,  however,  whether  from 
want  of  religious  principles  in  the  master,  or  the  ac- 
cidental preponderance  of  evil  principles  in  the 
scholars,  or  from  any  cause  assignable  or  not,  such 
schools  are  a  source  of  moral  pestilence  and  death ; 
and  no  intellectual  advantages  can  in  the  least  com- 
pensate for  their  existence.  A  good  trade  or  any 
honest  employment  is  preferable,  even  if  the  boy 
remains  with  the  bare  rudiments  of  an  elementary 
education.  Nay,  solitary  wickedness  and  idleness 
are  not  so  bad  as  the  associate  and  combined. 

But  schools  are  intellectually  bad.  And  this  is 
likely  to  be  the  case  wherever  the  mere  elements  of 


170  CHAI'TER    V. 

learning,  or  the  easiest  parts  of  any  subject,  are  to 
be  gone  over  again  and  again  with  countless  itera- 
tion, month  after  month,  and  year  after  year ;  and 
specially  where  the  opinion  is  expressed  or  implied, 
that  all  education  beyond  is  fit  for  the  rich  only  and 
the  aristocratic.  Who  has  not  noticed,  that  among 
narrow-minded  and  prejudiced  persons  there  is  often 
an  affectation  of  vulgarity  in  the  quality  and  style  of 
living,  and  dressing,  and  eating,  and  talking,  as  if 
contempt  and  scorn  were  thus  shown  towards  what 
they  deem  the  better  sort  ?  This  affectation  extends 
to  education.  It  is  full  of  pride  and  false  humility. 
It  is  itself  worthy  the  bitterest  scorn  of  the  good  and 
wise.  It  is  full  of  venom,  and  at  every  opportunity 
will  spit  forth  its  spite  at  industry,  decency,  and 
what  is  called  honest  pride.  It  levels  down  with  a 
will  and  a  vengeance.  In  such  a  school  let  not  a 
boy  remain  an  hour  after  he  has  once  fairly  and  com- 
pletely gone  around  the  circle  of  its  studies  and 
requirements.  Remove  him  either  to  a  higher 
school,  or  if  that  be  not  within  our  reach,  keep  him 
at  home,  or  place  him  at  any  suitable  trade  or  busi- 
ness. The  mind  requiring  no  exertion  to  learn  at 
the  third  and  fourth  repetition,  becomes  listless  ;  and 
it  loses  in  force  and  elasticity,  if  compelled  to  go 
over  or  around  any  more.  It  cannot  live  and  thrive 
on  the  old  food.  It  is  done  with  the  milk,  and 
craves  the  meat  of  stronger  learning.  It  learns  to 
loathe  the  poor  porridge,  and  turns  with  disgust  from 
the  whole  dish  of  thrice-masticated  hash  !  Idleness 
follows  inevitably,  and  soon  viciousness  and  mis- 
chief.    The  real  cause  of  the  great   idleness,  and 


SCHOOLS,  IN  TIIEIU  KIN'DS,  SORTS  AND  VARIETin?.        | -j  | 

wickedness,  and  vulgarity,  and  meanness  of  some 
schools,  is — there  arc  no  studies  !  Boys,  poor  and 
rich,  must  all  degenerate  in  schools  where  they  are 
compelled  to  beat  again  and  again  the  often  tramped 
path  of  easy  branches.  It  is  a  law  of  nature.  It 
must  be  so.  Studies,  therefore,  should  ever  change 
from  easy  to  difficult,  although  no  subsequent  use 
should  be  made  of  them,  solely  to  preserve  the  ntorals 
of  schools. 

Nothing  is  more  dreaded  by  an  experienced 
teacher,  than  when  a  boy  is  delivered  into  his  care 
with  some  such  formula  as  this  : — 

"  Here,  sir,  is  my  boy.  I  have  had  him  for  year 
after  year  at  school,  but  he  does  not  seem  to  im- 
prove any  ;  and  yet  he  has  gone  over  his  studies  a 
great  many  times.  I  have  tried  din'eient  schools, 
but  yet  he  has  rather  gone  back  in  his  learning. 
He  does  not  cipher  any  better  than  he  did  two 
years  ago ;  and  I  believe  he  has  forgot  English 
grammar  !  And  yet  he  is  naturally  a  very  good 
and  industrious  boy,  and  used  to  be  head  of  his 
class ;  but,  somehow  or  other,  he  is  rather  idle  and 
mischievous  now,  and  will  need  watching.  I  think 
you  may  try  him  a  spell,  and  let  him  go  over  his 
studies  once  more/" 

On  this  the  heart-sick  teacher  suggests  an  altera- 
tion in  his  studies — a  kind  of  change  in  the  medicine 
and  diet — the  only  thing  by  which  the  boy  can  be 
restored  ;  but  he  is  quickly  interrupted  with  a  self- 
complacent  and  rather  impatient  remark  : — 

"  No,  no,  sir  ! — I  do  not  see  what  good  that  kind 
of  learning  will  do  my  boy.  We  do  not  intend  him 
for  a  doctor,  nor  a  lawyer,  nor  an  engineer,   nor   a 


172  CHAtTER    V. 

surveyor,  nor  the  like  !  Besides,  that  sort  of  thing 
makes  boys  proud  !  We  only  intend  the  boy  for  a 
farm  or  trade,  or  maybe  we  shall  put  him  into  a 
store  ;  so  that  plain  English  reading,  writing,  arith- 
metic, and  so  on,  is  enough — agood,  plain  education  !" 
Alas  !  the  poor  boy  !  And  so  he  is  to  be  driven 
and  coaxed,  pushed  and  pulled,  like  a  stubborn,  ill- 
starred  mule,  around  the  old  circle,  but  with  a  new 
driver — the  sole  advance  in  his  education  being  in 
a  change  of  schools  !  Fortunate,  indeed,  if  in 
going  round  again,  he  can  remember  what  he  once 
knew  !  Fortunate,  if  to  his  stock  of  tricks  he  adds 
no  new  ones  ;  and  if,  instead  of  going  the  old  circle 
of  studies,  he  goes  not  a  new  circle  of  mischief! 
Silly  parent !  place  your  boy  at  the  trade  now  !  try 
no  more  schools  unless  you  try  new  studies,  and 
studies  more  difficult  !  And  alas  !  poor  schoolmas- 
ter !  thou  must  eat  bread,  and,  therefore,  the  boy 
is  received  ;  but  it  is  a  thorn  to  thy  side  ! — he  is  des- 
tined for  thy  ruler  !  Yea  !  whip  and  spur — thou  hast 
a  half  brute  to  manage,  and  he  will  be  a  whole 
brute  if"  he  remains  at  school  much  longer  !  The 
boy  has  used  his  studies  all  up  ! — he  will  tramp  them 
as  waste  fodder  now  under  his  feet  !  Thou  must 
complete  the  ruin  of  his  mind  !  Yes,  weep,  be- 
nevolent pedagogue  !  well  may  thy  soul  be  stirred 
at  parental  folly  and  stinginess  !  Men  will  often  sell 
their  own  souls  to  hoard  up  money  for  a  son,  to 
whom  they  will  basely  deny  an  education,  because 
it  would  draw  upon  the  hoard  before  the  hour  ! 
Oh !  folly  insensate  !  it  knows  not  its  own  art  aright 
— the  true  use  of  money  ! 


SCHOOLS,  IN  THEIR  KLN'DS,  SORTS  AM)  VARIETIES.       ^73 

Schools  for  instruction  in  the  elements  of  knowl- 
edge not  only  must  be,  but  they  are  indispensable. 
When  used  contrary,  however,  to  their  intention, 
they  are  abused,  and  the  abuse  is  mischievous. 
None  will  contend  that  these  schools  should  be 
used  as  places  of  seeming  industry,  but  yet  of  real 
idleness  ;  places,  where  mistaken  or  penurious  pa- 
rents may  continue  their  children  till  they  have 
reached  an  age  deemed  suitable  for  some  business 
or  trade  ;  places,  where  children  may  be  kept  out  of 
the  parent's  way,  and  have  the  semblance  of  going 
to  school,  that  the  parents  may  not  lose  caste  in  so- 
ciety ?  Nevertheless,  primary  schools  are  liable  to 
this  abuse ;  and  whoever  insists,  for  any  cause,  that 
his  son  shall  remain  in  a  primary  school  after  he 
has  moderately  well  learned  all  there  taught,  injures 
the  school.  Nor  can  any  plea  of  convenience,  nor 
any  plea  of  poverty,  (often  the  miserly  whine  of 
niggardliness,)  atone  for  that  injury.  No  clamor- 
ous twattle  about  education — sunshine  and  air — 
running  waters — rich  and  poor — common  branches 
— no  voting — no  grants  of  money — no  combined  ef- 
forts of  a  whole  conmiunity,  can  make  a  school  good 
used  contiary  to  its  intention.  If  a  primary  school, 
a  primary  school  it  is,  and  must  be  used  a»  such. 
Use  it  otherwise,  and  it  is  ruined.  It  becomes  a 
nuisance.  The  idle  mind  is  said  to  be  the  devil's 
workshop  :  what  shall  we  call  an  idle  school  ?  And 
a  school  must  become  essentially  an  idle  school,  just 
iu  proportion  as  it  numbers  pupils  who  are  again 
and  again  made  to  go  over  the  same  studies,  after 
they  fairly  understand  them. 


174  CHAPTER    V. 

From  the  foregoing  remarks  we  may  be  better 
able  to  determine,  in  some  degree,  the  nature  of  a 
good  school — that  is,  intellectually. 

The  grand  feature  in  a  good  school,  is  a  limit  in 
the  range  of  studies.  If  a  school  aim  at  teaching  all 
the  branches  that  may  properly  be  comprised  in  a 
course  of  education,  from  the  elements  of  the  child 
to  those  severe  studies  of  the  young  man,  that  usually 
finish  the  course,  there  must,  without  accident,  be 
confusion  and  failure.  The  tendency,  or  rather 
one  tendency  of  the  age,  is  to  act  en  masse  ;  and 
this  aftects  schools,  as  well  as  other  places  in  which 
persons  are  associated.  "  Union  is  strength,"  is  a 
very  good  maxim  ;  but  the  age  misinterprets  it. 
There  may  be  agglomeratio7i  without  union  ;  but  by 
very  many  these  separate  and  indeed  opposite  things 
are  confounded.  Mere  agglomeration  may  be  weak- 
ness ;  for  it  may  be  wholly  destitute  of  any  cohe- 
sive principle.  A  school  on  a  very  large  scale  may 
have  union,  but  the  agglomerative  power  is  all  it 
can  boast :  it  is  a  sand  ball  that  is  easily  pulverized 
into  its  constituent  grains.  The  very  attempt  to 
move  it  with  suitable  energy  breaks  it.  A  school 
of  the  conglomerate  kind  must  have  so  many  differ- 
ent instructors,  and  so  much  apparatus,  and  so  many 
pupils,  that  one  man  cannot  easily  arrange  and  con- 
trol, without  giving  his  whole  time  to  the  govern- 
ment ;  and  making  it  a  special  business,  he  is  apt 
to  over-govern  and  over-direct.  The  mass  will  not 
be  simply  governed.  And  there  are  all  the  various 
and  opposite  modes  of  teaching  and  governing  ap- 


SCHOOLS,  L\  THEIR  KLNDS,  BORTS  AND  VARLETIES.     J  75 

propriate  to  various  and  opposite  studies,  ages  and 
capacities — so  that  all  will  almost  inevitably  become 
confusion  ! 

This  may  happen,  it  does  happen,  where  the  con- 
glomerate school  is  honest,  and  intends  to  remain 
honest;  but  such  a  school  is  almost  invariably 
found,  upon  nice  inspection,  to  be  dishonest.  It  has 
narrowed  down  and  compressed  into  a  nutshell  all 
learning  and  science.  It  is  full  of  patent  books  and 
patent  systems  for  doing  much  work  in  a  little  time. 
It  has  a  capacious  hopper,  in  which  wheat  and 
cockle  grain  and  chaff  may  all  be  one  grist,  and  fall 
into  a  wondrous  bolting  sieve  that  shall  sift  forth 
nothing  but  prime  meal  !  The  principal  teaches  a 
little  of  all  things ;  and  with  the  aid  of  one  or  two 
subordinates,  he  will,  in  a  few  months,  send  out  work 
that  otherwise  would  require  a  dozen  years  and  a 
score  of  professors  !  Cheap  clothing  stores  are  not 
confined  to  the  outer  man  :  the  inner  man  may  be 
furnished  for  next  to  nothing,  and  "  fits"  contrived 
at  the  shortest  notice !  Generally  speaking,  the 
academies  that  set  forth  pompous  bills,  professing 
to  teach  a  university  course  ;  or  a  primary  school, 
professing  to  teach  an  academical  course,  is  dishon- 
est— and  there  is  a  bad  school.  This  curious  age, 
so  fertile  in  empty  wonders,  has  nearly  legalized  a 
word,  or  taken  a  vulgar  word  and  stamped  it  as 
current  in  literature — humbug,  with  all  its  deriva- 
tives and  cognates  ;  and  that  word  seems  to  stare 
one  in  the  face  in  certain  advertisements  and  pam- 
phlets, discoursing  so  elocjucntly  in  favor  of  some 
late  invention  or  discovery  in  the  art  of  educating. 


176  CHAPTER  V. 

One  could  hardly  stare  any  more,  if  mesmerism 
should  open  a  new  school,  and  teach  by  rubbing  the 
eyes  insteo.d  of  feruling  the  palms  !  If  heavenly 
things  are  thus  taught,  surely  we  may  expect  the 
earthly  !  And  then  people  of  the  weakest  nerves 
will  be  the  strongest  scholars  !  and  the  indolent  and 
credulous  will  discover  more  than  the  industrious 
and  cautious  !  Happy  era  ! — we  border  on  a  golden 
age,  when  weak  and  strong  will  be  on  a  dead 
level !  and  all  may  shut  their  eyes  and  yet  see  all 
the  arcana  in  the  universe,  and  a  mile  or  two  be- 
yond the  limit  that  vanishes  into  nothingness  ! — a 
transcendentalism  transcending  the  very  German  ! — 
a  bottomless  abyss  with  yet  a  lower  bottom  ! 

From  the  preceding  remarks,  foundation  may  be 
seen  for  the  customary  arrangement  of  schools  under 
three  general  kinds — the  primary,  the  academical, 
the  collegiate.  Other  names  may  be  given  these 
divisions:  the  primary  may  be  called  elementary, 
common ;  the  academical  may  be  called  high- 
schools  ;  the  collegiate,  universities ;  but  the  grand 
distinctions  themselves  are  real.  And,  when  these 
distinctions  are  regarded,  the  end  of  an  education 
is  better  attained,  than  by  confounding  them.  If 
the  distinctions  are  observed,  then  schools  must  be 
in  separate  places,  have  separate  modes  of  teaching, 
be  conducted  by  separate  teachers,  and  be  for  pupils 
different  in  ages  and  attainments.  It  is  no  part  of  the 
author's  plan  to  treat  of  these  schools  severally  ;  he 
could  not  do  it  without  twattling — genius  higher 
than  his  is  competent:  but  he  may  say,  that  while 
men  of  talent  and  learning  may  find  ample  scope 


SCHOOLS,  IN  THEIR  KINDS,  SORT3  AND   VARIETIE.''.       J  ■77 

for  all  they  have  and  all  they  are,  in  any  kind  of 
school,  yet  worthy  men  of  less  talent  and  learning, 
may  be  safely  intrusted  with  many  of  the  inferior 
schools. 

While,  however,  the  grand  division  of  schools  is 
allowed  to  obtain,  the  advantages  of  that  division 
cease  whenever  pupils  fully  prepared  for  a  higher 
school  are  kept  in  a  lower.  In  case  a  boy  has,  for 
instance,  six  years  to  be  passed  in  schools,  and  two 
are  sufficient  for  the  primary  or  academical  course, 
every  day  he  remains  beyond  that  two  years  is  wast- 
ed, and  both  he  and  the  inferior  school  are  injured. 
And  this  rule  applies  to  the  repetition  of  a  course  of 
studies  even  in  college.  A  young  gentleman  was  grad- 
uated years  ago  at  a  distinguished  college,  and  with 
distinguished  honor — the  seventh  honor  ;  for  which 
his  comrades  gave  him  a  triumphal  ride  around  the 
campus  on  a — rail!  He  determined  to  re-enter, 
and  repeat  the  four  years.  His  ambition  was  grati- 
fied, for  he  once  more  took  the  seventh  honor,  and 
was  treated  to  a  second  rail !  But  he  was  a  liberal 
fellow,  and  spent,  during  the  eight  years  of  his  col- 
lege life,  one  thousand  dollars  annually.  A  good 
school  of  any  kind  is  good  only  while  confined  to 
its  own  nature.  It  is  a  stage-coach  or  a  rail-road 
car,  in  which  a  traveller  does  not  wish  to  remain 
after  it  has  conveyed  him  to  a  given  point  on  his 
journey,  or  back  with  which  he  will  not  return  for 
the  sake  of  travelling  the  same  part  of  the  road 
twice  or  thrice  over,  when  once  is  sufficient. 

The  ignorance,  however,  of  many,  even  in  an  age 
of  surpassing  light  ;  the  vnnity  of  some  tearhers  ;  the 


1  78  CHAPTER  V. 

profound  nescience  of  many  legislators,  voted  by  a 
majority  to  be  wise  men  ;  the  selfishness  of  dema- 
gogues ;  the  influence  of  wordy  lecturers  in  lyce- 
ums  ever  spouting  about  education,  "  physical,  mor- 
al, and  intellectual  ;"  all  these,  with  other  things  pe- 
culiar to  a  talking  people  and  a  talking  age,  incline 
us  to  overlook,  or  disregard  these,  and  most  time- 
honored  distinctions.  In  vain  is  it  urged,  that  evil 
will  arise  if  all  schools  are  united  or  confounded  : 
like  the  child  that  was  dehorted  from  some  amuse- 
ment because  of  the  evil  in  it,  we  reply  that  we 
wish  to  see  the  evil  that  is  in  plans  and  schemes,  as 
well  as  our  fathers.  The  people  often  will  that  an 
evil  shall  exist ;  and  its  sovereignty  must  be  obeyed- 
A  good  school  is  rendered  better  by  a  compara- 
tively small  number  of  scholars.  The  ratio  of  in- 
crease among  the  teachers,  principal  and  accessory, 
must  be  a  ratio  direct  with  the  number  of  pupils. 
In  the  best  academies  a  teacher  will  be  found  ne- 
cessary for  nearly  every  twelve  pnpils,  especially 
where  the  studies  are  very  numerous,  and  classifi- 
cation extensive.  A  primary  school  of  the  best 
sort,  where  only  four  or  five  branches  are  studied, 
requires  a  teacher  for  about  every  twenty  pupils. 
In  many  places,  perhaps  it  may  be  said,  in  most 
places,  the  public  entertain  opinions  adverse  to  this  : 
that,  however,  cannot  alter  truth  or  fact.  In  public 
estimation  a  flourishing  school  is  a  school  of  an  hun- 
dred scholars.  The  number  of  teachers  is  not  esti- 
mated. Indeed,  the  fewer  teachers  the  greater 
the  wonder ;  or  rather,  it  suits  the  spirit  of  the  age, 
to  see  great  results  from  little  causes.     An  hundred 


\ 

SCHOOLS,  IN  THEIR  KINDS,  SORTS  AND  VARIETIES.       J-^Q 

scholars  and  only  one  teacher !  On  the  contrary,  a 
school  of  twenty  pupils  and  two  teachers,  is  an 
anomaly — it  is  a  waste  of  power.  A  little  stream  ju- 
diciously treated  will  turn  a  dozen  mills  !  why  should 
not  one  teacher  he  made  to  do  an  hundred  boys? 
And  yet,  spite  of  the  thousand  analogies  of  utilitari- 
anism, a  small  school  with  several  teachers,  is  incom- 
parably better  than  a  school  ever  so  large  with  but 
one  master. 

Honorable,  nay,  many  honorable  exceptions  are 
found  to  the  following  remark,  as  to  all  other  simi- 
lar remarks,  yet  we  could  not  count  easily  that 
number  of  parents  who  are  too  niggardly  to  pay  for 
a  good  education  ;  and  that  in  many  instances  where 
the  value  of  such  education  is  in  a  measure  appre- 
ciated, if  not  in  thought,  at  least  in  words.  Such 
parents  do  not  deserve  a  good  education  for  their 
children.  For  a  good  education  costs  money  ;  and 
it  should  cost  money.  The  popular  sentiment,  how- 
ever verbally  opposed  to  agrarianism  in  lands,  and 
goods,  and  chattels,  loves  it  in  education.  There 
something  is  wanted  without  an  equivalent — and 
something  worth  all  the  other  good  things  of  this 
life,  so  coveted  by  parents  for  themselves  and  their 
children.  This  is  one  true  reason,  often  the  only 
reason,  that  fine,  bright,  intelligent  children  are 
driven  year  after  year  around  the  circle  of  the  same 
easy  and  elementary  branches : — primary  schools  are 
comparatively  cheap,  and  primary  school-books 
are  cheap !  The  people,  therefore,  in  numerous 
places,  will  combine  and  cram  a  school,  and  then 
vote  it  a  flourishing  school.     They  will    give  one 


ISO  CHAPTER   V. 

teacher  as  many  as  a  room  can  hold,  and  that  is  a 
good  school. 

Alas  !  the  author  has  known  a  poor  sickly  teacher 
applauded,  because,  unaided,  he  labored  by  himself 
eight  or  nine  honrs  a  day  to  teach  some  eighty  pu- 
pils, that  he  might  put  a  little  bread  into  his  mouth, 
and  some  coarse  clothes  on  his  family.  His  school 
was  called  flourishing  !  The  parents  paid  a  few 
shillings  a  quarter,  given  out  of  their  purses  like 
drops  of  blood  from  their  hearts  !  But  one  fair 
morning  the  poor  murdered  victim  of  selfishness 
and  hypocrisy  fell  down  in  his  school,  overwrought, 
and  was  borne  home  to  die  !  And  then  his  patrons  ? 
— yes,  patrons/ — carried  him  to  a  grave,  saying — 
"  Poor  fellow  !  he  was  probably  overwrought !"  and 
they  shed  tears  as  the  earth  was  shovelled  on  his 
coffin.  Tears  ! — aye  !  but  those  tears  should  have 
been  a  loud  wail  for  their  own  ineffiible  covetous- 
ness  !  But  the  spirit  of  the  age  says,  "  Buy  as  cheap 
as  you  can  ;"  and  the  voice  of  conscience  being 
hushed  by  a  rule  of  political  economy,  the  mourn- 
ers turn  from  the  grave  to  look  for  another  cheap 
schoolmaster. 

Granted,  that  many  are  too  poor  to  pay  anything 
for  elementary  tuition,  and  very  many  only  a  pit- 
tance ;  and  that  the  obligation  is  binding  and  the 
importance  incalculable  of  making  provision  in  some 
way,  for  the  education  of  the  poor ;  is  that  a  rea- 
son that  teachers  should  work  for  nothing  ?  or  is 
that  a  reason  why  people  who  can  pay,  and  pay 
well,  for  education,  should  have  it  as  a  gratuity  ? 
We   mav,  indeed,  bear  each  others  burdens;  but 


SCHOOL^,  IN  THEIR  KINDS,  SORTS  AND   VAKIETIt:s. 


181 


one  man  is  under  no  obligation  to  bear  a  load  that 
would  break  a  camel's  back.  A  whole  village  may 
not  put  the  whule  pack  of  their  obligations  on  the 
back  of  a  single  schoolmaster.  Teachers  may  give 
alms  as  they  list.  They  ought  not  to  demand  less 
for  their  services  to  all,  because  they  charitably  ask 
a  less  fee  from  some  ;  no  more  than  mercliants 
should  sell  at  cost,  or  give  away  their  wares  to  all, 
because  they  benevolently  do  so  to  "  the  widow  and 
the  fatherless." 

No  men  are  more  justly  entitled  to  fair  prices, 
and  often  to  very  large  prices,  than  truly  qualified 
and  competent  teachers.  And  this,  not  barely  be- 
cause of  the  value  of  what  they  give  in  return  ;  but 
because  of  the  great  outlay  of  time  and  money 
necessary  to  prepare  for  their  profession.  Some 
teachers  have  spent  a  dozen  years  in  preparation, 
and  have  laid  out  many  thousand  dollars:  a  capital 
of  time  and  money,  sufficient  to  iiave  made  them 
rich  in  merchandise,  or  at  any  mechanical  art.  Few 
persons  can  estimate  the  value  of  things  where  the 
results  are  produced  with  ease  and  ;n  a  moment. 
They  must  see  the  labor  performed.  Most  can 
readily  believe  that  a  rail-road,  a  canal,  or  a  ship  is 
worth  all  the  money  asked  for  it;  but  they  cannot 
understand  why  a  paiffting  or  a  statue  should  be 
held  at  many  thousand  dollars.  Nor  can  they  but 
be  amazed  that  a  Paganini  should  expect  twenty 
guineas  for  a  single  "  tune"  performed  on  the  violin  ! 
A  plain,  but  frank-hearted  and  sensible  farmer  once 
called  at  the  office  of  a  celebrated  chief  justice  in 
the  South,  and  asked  him  a  very  important  question, 
9 


LS2 


CHAPTER   V. 


that  could  be  answered  in  an  instant,  categorically 
— yes  or  no.  "  No,"  was  promptly  returned.  The 
farmer  was  well  satisfied.  The  decision  was  worth 
to  him  many  thousand  dollars.  And  now  the  client, 
about  to  retire,  asked  the  lawyer  the  charge  for  the 
information.  "  Ten  dollars,"  replied  he.  "  Ten 
dollars  !"  ejaculated  the  amazed  farmer — "  ten  dol- 
lars ! !  for  saying  JYo .'"  *'  Do  you  see  those  rows 
of  books,  my  friend  ?"  rejoined  the  chief  justice  ; 
"  I  have  spent  many  years  in  reading  them  and 
studying  their  contents,  to  answer — JVo."  "  Right ! 
right !"  responded  the  honest  farmer — "  right  !  I 
cheerfully  pay  the  ten  dollars  !" 

All  this  applies  most  appropriately  to  the  compe- 
tent teacher.  The  most  assiduous  study  of  many 
books  and  of  many  subjects  is  necessary,  before 
he  can  properly  and  compendiously  answer  yes  and 
no ;  but  to  the  unthinking  and  the  ignorant,  that 
hear  the  replies  and  notice  the  easiness  w4th  which 
such  w^ords  are  uttered,  the  teacher  seems  to  earn 
money  without  labor  !  Nor  can  one,  who  sees  not 
the  daily  toil — the  mental  toil — (and  which,  indeed, 
none  but  a  thinker  can  see) — nor  can  he  appreciate 
the  kind  and  amount  of  labor  bestowed  to  make  a 
boy,  even  a  willing  boy,  a  scholar  !  The  art  and 
difficulty  in  forming  a  good  reader  and  a  good 
speaker,  few  can  understand  !  Hence  the  labor  of 
a  teacher  is  too  often  paid  with  niggardliness  ;  and 
the  pittance  is  paid  grudgingly — as  if  a  penny  were 
given  to  be  rid  of  the  importunity  of  a  beggar ! 

It  is  preposterous  to  urge  that  the  majority  of  per- 
sons everywhere  cannot  pay  a  fair  and  usually  a 


SCHOOLS,  IN   THEIR   KINDS,   SORTS   AXD    VARIETIES.     JQ3 

generous  price  for  good  education.  Tlie  price 
might,  generally,  be  paid  without  the  curtailment  of 
conveniences.  Very  many  persons  who  put  on  a 
pitiful  look,  and  use  a  whining  tone,  in  cheapening 
a  school-bill,  pay  generously  enough  for  other  things, 
even  luxuries  !  Nay,  they  heap  on  their  children's 
backs  more  than  enough  to  fill  their  heads  and  store 
their  minds,  and  adorn  their  persons,  with  the  best 
learning,  and  the  most  manly  graces !  There  is  a 
foul  hypocrisy  that  affects  to  be  poor,  when  a 
teacher  is  employed,  that  is  mean  enough  to  heg  or 
the  tuition  freely  given  to  the  poor  ! 

But  if  important  curtailments  were  called  for, 
what  then  ?  Education  is  superior  to  all  other  mere 
earthly  goods.  Buying  property  is  the  pretext  for 
"  withholding  what  is  meet''  from  children  ;  but  the 
best  property  is  that  education  so  undervalued ! 
This  property  is  not  affected  by  the  rise  and  fall  of 
stocks ;  by  tariffs ;  by  embargoes  ;  by  non-inter- 
course ;  by  any  of  the  innumerable  changes  incident 
to  all  other  possessions.  This  is  an  inheritance  not 
depending  on  the  wording  of  wills,  and  the  quibbles 
of  law.  The  finger  of  God  only,  touching  the  intel- 
lect itself,  can  destroy  its  stores  and  deaden  its 
force.  Here  is  a  rich  and  vast  estate  ever  carried 
with  us  in  a  small  compass :  it  cannot  be  stolen  ;  it 
cannot  decay  ;  it  will  increase  from  its  own  use  !  It 
may  last  forever  !  A  man  who  can  educate  his  chil- 
dren well,  and  who  is  unwilling  to  pay  the  price,  is 
contemptible,  and  deserves  rebuke  when  he  dares 
insult  competent  teachers  by  any  oblique  petition, 
in  a  sneaking  tone,  to  take  less  ! 


184 


ClIArTEK   V. 


Small  hopes  are  entertained  that  the  idolatry  of 
covetousness  shall  be  overturned  by  a  few  indignant 
words  :  the  cry  will  be,  in  spite  of  truth,  justice 
and  generosity,  in  favor  of  cheap  schools.  But  it  is 
well  to  let  covetousness  know  that  it  wears  a  veil 
of  gauze,  when  it  thinks  itself  screened  behind  a 
*'  whited  sepulchre."  It  runs  its  odious  head  into 
the  bush,  but  its  vile  tail  sticks  out  far  enough  ! 

Let  us  hear  no  more  of  poor  schools  and  poor 
teachers.  The  public  can  have  good  schools,  when- 
ever and  wherever  it  chooses  to  pay  for  them. 
Small  price  generates  small  teachers ;  and  small 
teachers  cannot  make  great  schools.  It  is  pitiable 
to  walk  through  our  flourishing  villages,  with  stores 
rivalling  the  great  cities  ;  with  patrician  residences, 
and  tasteful  cottages ;  with  large  public  halls,  and 
all  the  appearance  of  wealth,  luxury,  affluence  ;  or 
to  ride  amidst  farms  equal  in  extent  and  richness  to 
those  of  European  lords  and  nobles;  and  hear  from 
town  and  country  alike,  the  affected  lamentation  that 
they  liave  no  good  schools !  Nor  will  they,  nor 
ought  they,  while  gold  is  dearer  to  their  hearts  than 
intellectual  improvement.  Let  no  mistaken  philan- 
thropist offer  to  teach  their  children  for  nothing. 
Let  no  honest  politician  mistake  and  offer  to  get  the 
aid  of  the  legislature.  What !  are  these  people  in 
abject  poverty  ?  Are  they  beggars  ?  Have  they 
done  the  State  such  service  that  the  State  must 
educate  their  children?  If  demagogues  weep  over 
the  poor  people — are  these  the  poor  people  ?  What 
must  be  the  poor  that  have  no  stores,  no  money,  no 
farms,  no  conveniences,  no  luxuries,  no  elegant  ba- 


SCHOOL?,  IN   THEIR    KIXD?,   SORT?   AND  VARIETIES.     jQr 

rouches,  no  capacious  barns  ?  Oh  !  what  deep  con- 
vulsive sobs  would  shake  the  demagogue's  com- 
miserative breast,  if  these  rich  poor  were  the  poor 
poor  !  if  these  were  the  poor  "  that  had  no  doors  to 
cover  them  !" 

JNIen  of  talent,  and  tact,  and  energy  may  essay  to 
teach  in  these  mean  neighborhoods  ;  but  their  inten- 
tion is  only  to  make  teaching  a  stepping-stone  to 
law,  medicine,  divinity,  politics  ;  while  a  few  may 
feel  impelled  to  teach,  as  others  are  impelled  to 
preach.  These  latter  will  struggle  on  against  pov- 
erty, and  insult,  and  oppression,  and  scorn,  even  as 
some  "  hope  on,  and  hope  ever  !"  They  are  the 
great  and  godlike  men  !  They  stand  and  walk 
forth  the  embodiment  of  dignity  and  grandeur  ! — the 
surpassing  excellence  of  the  teacher's  science  and 
art !  But  still,  where  the  reward  is  wholly  inade- 
quate, the  majority  of  teachers  must  be  incompe- 
tent ;  and  the  competent  will  ever  escape  into  other 
professions  and  employments,  leaving  the  other 
teachers  to  eat  the  pittance  unwillingly  bestowed 
for  their  small  services — the  standing  jest  of  every 
brainless  dunce  and  malicious  worldling,  who  rejoice 
to  repay  with  contumely  the  well-merited  feruling 
of  their  idle  and  vicious  school  days  ! 

Tliis  is  not  the  place  to  say  how  provision  may 
be  best  made  for  the  education  of  the  truly  poor. 
But  not  without  reason  is  it  now  said,  that  multi- 
tudes who  cry  out  for  the  education  of  the  poor  at 
the  expense  of  the  State,  or  of  religious  and  corpo- 
rate charities,  care  little  or  nothing  for  the  poor  and 
their  education;  they  simply  hope  to  avail  them- 


]g(3  ciiArrrR  V. 

selves  of  the  poor  man's  school,  at  the  poor  man's 
price.  The  same  dismterested  benevolence  would 
open  its  mouth  in  favor  of  a  poor  man's  eating  house, 
if  it  could  dare  to  go  in  and  eat  for  a  penny  wlmi  is 
worth  a  shilling  !  Hence  a  poor  man's  school  is  so 
often  filled  with  the  rich  man's  children,  that  no 
seat  remains  vacant  for  the  former  ! — public-spirited 
and  philanthropic  persons  love  to  set  an  example  to 
the  poor !  And  so  virtue  has  its  reward  !  Such 
excellency  would,  in  its  excess  of  zeal,  shove  pov- 
erty from  the  public  soup-table,  under  cover  of  pa- 
triotism and  condescension  !  Hark  !  the  cry  ! — 
"  Let  us  all  sit  down  together  on  the  same  school- 
bench — rags  and  robes  !  let  us  all  drink  in  learning 
from  the  same  iron  ladle  !"  But  mark  ! — the  robes 
have  filled  the  whole  bench  !  and  the  iron  ladle  is 
exhausted  by  patrician  lips  ! 

There  are  objections  to  legislative  schools,  which 
shall  be  stated  in  due  time.  The  author,  however, 
has  noticed  that  persons,  whose  taxes  for  public  edu- 
cation are  less  than  the  amount  of  fair  and  decent 
school-bills  on  independent  principles,  are  usually 
favorable  to  the  imposts — because,  first,  these  people 
have  an  apology  for  obtaining  the  semblance  of  an 
education  at  less  price  ;  and,  secondly,  they  educate 
their  own  children  at  the  expense,  in  some  good 
degree,  of  men  whose  taxes,  owing  to  greater 
wealth,  are  able  to  make  up  the  deficiency  of  their 
own.  Some  prominent  men,  too,  with  words  of 
kindness  towards  the  poor  on  the  tongue,  and  of 
patriotism,  when  their  property  is  very  great  and 
liable  to  many  and  heavy  taxes,  contrive  to  put  that 


SCHOOLS,  IN   THEIR   KINDS,  PORTS   AND  VARrETIEf.     JQ* 

property  in  a  sliapc  in  which  it  cannot  be  so  readily 
taxed.  When  these  have  previously  and  openly 
resisted  what  they  deem  injustice  and  oppression, 
and  have  understood  the  humbug  of  mock  philan- 
thropy and  patriotism,  we  blame  them  not  for  es- 
caping the  net  and  snare  laid  for  their  money ;  but 
where  they  have  themselves  affected  to  be  friends  of 
wholesale  systems  of  education,  and  then  take  such 
methods  of  avoiding  their  natural  share  of  burdens 
imposed  by  themselves,  their  conduct  is  despicable. 
The  avarice,  the  cupidity,  the  cunning  of  men,  aim- 
ing to  get  something  lor  nothing;  or  their  real  in- 
difference to  the  value  of  what  is  apparently  sought, 
accounts  for  the  failure  of  many  schemes  of  pretend- 
ed philanthropy  and  patriotism.  These  are  noisy, 
but  shallow  streams  ;  there  is  at  heart  no  perennial 
fountain  of  living  waters.     One  gush  exhausts  all. 

To  speak  in  general  terms,  we  conclude  that 
schools,  to  be  good,  should  be  rather  small  than 
large  in  the  number  of  pupils ;  the  teacher 
should  be  liberally  paid,  and  honorably  trusted.  A 
departure  from  these  principles,  verges  towards  an 
evil  or  bad  school.  If,  however,  schools  are  neces- 
sarily large  in  the  number  of  the  pupils,  the  num- 
ber, also,  of  competent  teachers  should  be  in- 
creased, that  the  equilibrium  be  preserved ;  al- 
though a  very  large  school,  with  a  sufficient  number 
of  competent  teachers,  is  apt  to  be  inferior  to  a 
smaller  school.  Pupils  enough  for  spirit  and  emu- 
lation, and  variety  of  companionship,  is  the  max- 
imum ;  more  dilutes,  and  interferes  with  a  prompt 
and  concentrated  irovernment. 


|gQ  CHAPTER  V. 

Thus  far,  schools  have  been  considered  as  day- 
schools,  in  which  pupils  are  under  the  care  of  a 
teacher  during  the  school-hours,  but  reside  with 
their  parents  or  guardians.  A  kind,  or  class  of 
schools,  combining  the  advantages  of  a  family  and 
a  school,  remains  to  be  considered — boarding- 
schools. 

The  most  important  consideration  here,  is  the 
comparative  excellency  of  boarding-schools.  Sup- 
posing that  the  day  and  the  boarding-school  are 
alike  in  size,  in  teachers,  in  pupils,  in  morals,  and 
other  matters,  we  incline  still  to  believe  that  board- 
ing-schools are  preferable.  For,  however  excellent 
the  mental  and  moral  discipline  of  a  family,  it  can- 
not surpass  that  of  a  proper  boarding-school ;  it 
rarely  equals  it.  During  the  hours  of  relaxation, 
but  more  especially,  those  hours  necessary  for  stu- 
dying beyond  the  mere  school-time,  children  cannot 
be  so  well  regulated  in  a  family,  as  where  the  whole 
is  a  business,  and  the  system  is  formed  with  a  view 
to  this  necessity  ;  and  that  is  the  case  in  a  boarding- 
school.  Unforeseen  interruptions  must  occur  in  pri- 
vate families,  and  from  a  thousand  causes,  which 
prevent  any  attention  to  a  lesson  at  home  ;  and  yet 
that  attention  is  always  important,  and  sometimes 
indispensable,  to  success  in  scholarship.  The  weather 
forbids  constancy  and  punctuality,  so  that  many  a 
good  student  is  hindered  and  discouraged  by  this 
unavoidable  accident.  Beside,  many  boys  and  girls, 
in  passing  to  and  from  school,  are  often  exposed  to 
temptations  and  dangers,  that  are  worse  than  any 
evils  in  the  dav-school  itself. 


SCHOOLS,  IN  TFIEIR  KINDS,  SORTS  AND  VARIETins.        jgy 

It  must  be  granted,  that  nothing  is  superior  to  the 
moral  influence  of  a  well-ordered  and  religious 
family  ;  and  where  any  moderate  attention  to  the 
superintendence  of  studies  in  such  a  family  is  pos- 
sible, it  seems  not  advisable  that  the  children  should 
ever  be  sent  to  any  boarding-school.  A  certainty 
ought  not  to  be  yielded  to  a  doubt.  But  it  is  also 
true,  and  beyond  all  question,  that  on  the  score  of 
religion  and  morals,  a  boardmg-school,  under  moral 
and  religious  control,  is  greatly  preferable  to  a 
family,  in  which  serious  matters  are  neglected  or 
of  secondary  consideration.  A  boarding-school,  to 
many,  is  an  ark  of  safety.  It  does  for  them,  what 
has  been  neglected  by  their  own  parents.  It  is  ac- 
tually, to  some,  the  door  to  heaven  !  Here  we  speak 
understandingly  and  confidently  ;  and  our  words 
would  be  true,  if  all  printed  in  capitals.  A  child  in 
a  good  boarding-school  has  been  known  to  become, 
at  least  externally,  transformed,  that  had  come  in 
*'  so  questionable  a  shape"  as  to  render  a  pause 
necessary,  and  a  doubt  whether  it  would  be  safe  to 
admit  such  to  the  bosom  of  the  family,  and  whetiier 
it  would  comport  with  pledges  given  or  implied,  in 
regard  to  parents  of  the  other  pupils  ;  and  yet  that 
child  has,  after  some  years,  gone  away  regretted 
and  honored,  and  even  referred  to  as  a  model  fit 
for  imitation. 

A  good  boarding-school  is,  in  fact,  to  many,  a  pre- 
cious privilege — a  privilege  that  may  well  be  cov- 
eted. In  such  a  school,  religion  is,  of  necessity, 
wrought  in  with  the  whole  texture  of  duty  and  dis- 
cipline. Without  being  the  business  exclusively  of 
9* 


190  CHArTER   V. 

the  school,  it  belongs  to  all  the  business.  It  mingles 
with  the  studies,  with  the  rebukes,  the  chastisements, 
the  rewards,  the  counsels,  the  approbation.  Boys 
see  how  it  is  possible  in  all  things  to  regard  the  au- 
thority of  God,  and  how  all  may  be  employed  in 
His  service.  Beside  this,  religion  has  its  altar  in  the 
family ;  and  praise  and  thanksgiving  ascend  night 
and  morning.  God  is  implored  for  pardon,  for  illumi- 
nation, for  sanctification,  for  guidance,  for  salvation  ; 
and  He  is  publicly  worshipped  on  the  Sabbath  in 
the  congregation  of  the  people.  A  jealous  eye 
watches  and  guards  the  morals  of  the  pupils  ;  and 
great  care  is  exercised  to  defend  from  all  wicked- 
ness and  impurity. 

Sectarianism  is  no  necessary  part  of  all  this  reli 
gion.  But  any  sectarianism,  if  it  contain  any  of  the 
vital  principles  of  Christianity,  is  infinitely  prefera- 
ble in  a  boarding-school  to  no  religion.  Perhaps  we 
may  be  classed  among  the  strong  opponents  of  a 
papistical  religion ;  but  we  had  rather  by  far  send 
to  a  boarding-school  where  such  sentiments  were 
even  taught,  than  where  religion  was  not  taught  at 
all.  A  man  may,  peradventure,  discern  the  truth, 
however  variegated  with  false  colors,  or  overlaid 
with  gilding.  The  pearl  of  great  price  may  ray 
forth  its  light  through  rubbish ;  but  it  is  impossible 
to  perceive  the  truth  where  it  is  not,  or  find  a  jewel 
where  none  is  lost  or  concealed. 

As  a  general  rule,  very  young  children  are  safer 
at  home  than  at  even  a  good  boarding-school.  Mo- 
thers, certainly,  are  the  best  teachers  and  guardians 
for  such.    But  where  necessity  requires,  very  voung 


SCHOOLP,  I\  TIIEIK  KINDS,  SORTS  AND  VARIETIES.       jgi 

children  are  cared  for  as  honestly,  often,  as  at  home  ; 
while  many  improper  and  hurtful  indulgences  are 
withheld. 

In  a  word,  we  may  say  a  good  boarding-school 
is  the  combination  of  a  family  and  a  school.  Where 
that  combination  is  perfect,  the  school  is  excellent. 
The  degree  of  excellence  varies  with  the  variations 
of  the  constituents.  Keeping  in  view  this  definition 
boarding-schools,  manifestly,  should  never  be  large. 
A  household  of  twenty-five  pupils  is,  perhaps,  a  max- 
imum :  possibly,  fifteen  or  twenty  is  a  better  num- 
ber. Yet  very  far  be  it  from  us  to  say,  that  most 
excellent  boarding-schools  may  not  be,  where  twice 
or  thrice  these  numbers  are  found;  but  still  ihe  do- 
mestic constituent  is  in  jeopardy,  whenever  the  num- 
ber of  pupils  is  so  great  as  to  change  i\\e  family  as- 
pect. True,  Asiatics  sometimes  have  sons  enough  to 
ride  on  "  threescore  mules  ;"  but  western  families, 
with  one  mother,  are  usually  much  smaller  ;  and  our 
analogy  must  be  restricted  to  the  occidental  sun. 

The  courtesies  of  the  table,  and  of  ordinary  inter- 
course, are  better  secured  among  a  small  number  of 
boarders  ;  and  the  importance  of  manners  no  wise 
man  can  fail  to  see — none  can  undervalue.  Man- 
ners in  a  boarding-school  may  not  be  fine  and  ele- 
gant, but  they  may  always  be  pleasing ;  yet  they 
cannot  be  pleasing,  if  indecorum  at  table  is  allowed  ; 
and  it  must  more  or  less  prevail,  when  a  large  num- 
ber of  boys  is  there.  But  a  great  objection  against 
boarding-schools,  is  found  in  the  partial  destruction 
of  a   home-feeling  ;  for  when   the    sensibilities  arc 


192  cfiArxKK    V. 

blunted  or  deadened,  many  virtues  of  a  mild  and 
amiable  character  suffer.  And  boys  governed 
wholly  by  authority,  and  not  moved  by  love,  are 
inclined  to  be  slaves  and  not  sons.  Hence  disobe- 
dience, insolence,  mischiefs,  rebellions  in  boarding- 
schools.  The  children,  cut  off  from  all  family  con- 
nections and  feelings,  become  cold,  unsocial,  inimical. 
They  set  up  opposite  interests.  The  mellowing, 
and  melting,  and  harmonizing  influence  of  family 
and  domestic  feeling  is  wanting :  they  cannot 
amalgamate  with  the  school.  Two  masses  or  bodies 
are  in  juxta-position  :  there  should  be  a  blending 
into  one.  Not  a  few  boys  need  a  mother,  a  father, 
a  sister :  that  want  unsupplied,  renders  them  rest- 
less and  unhappy.  They  submit  to  authority,  but 
they  hate  it  as  tyranny. 

In  proportion,  however,  as  a  boarding-school  has 
few  pupils,  the  objection  has  less  force,  and  often 
loses  its  entire  force.  For  with  a  few,  the  teacher 
and  his  family  may  with  great  propriety  have  such 
intercourse,  as  to  supply,  in  a  great  degree,  the 
natural  cravings  of  the  heart  after  home.  It  is  not 
enough  that  the  judgment  of  the  children  is  con- 
vinced that  the  family  is  kind ;  they  must  come  into 
contact,  and  feel  what  is  fatherly  and  motherly  and 
sisterly  in  it.  The  heart  requires  touch  to  be  moved. 
But  this  is  almost  impracticable  in  a  large  board- 
ing-school. There,  the  life  is  whojly  by  rule,  ac- 
knowledged to  be  right,  but  felt  to  be  cold.  And 
nothing  is  so  hurtful  to  a  school,  as  chilled  affection  ! 
We  may  be   told,  that  in    large  boarding-school^' 


SCHOOLS,  IN  TIIKIR  KINDS,  SORTS  AND  VARIETIES.        ji)3 

children  are  regarded  as  members  of  the  family ; 
but  it  can  be  only  pro  forma — the  actual  fulfilment 
of  the  promise  is  next  to  impossible. 

The  same  mistaken  parsimony  that  destroys  or 
prevents  good  day-schools,  does,  in  a  degree,  aflect 
boarding-schools.  Many  are  unwilling  to  pay  a 
suitable  price.  Boarding-schools,  therefore,  if  they 
exist  at  all,  must,  in  some  places,  be  large.  High 
prices,  with  a  limited  number  of  boarders,  not  to 
exceed  twenty,  would,  in  reality,  be  cheaper  than 
low  prices  and  five  times  that  number ;  but  an  age 
that  lives  by  sight  and  not  by  faith,  can  see  little,  if 
it  must  be  seen  tln-ough  a  large  sum  of  money.  A 
guinea  may  aid  the  vision  of  a  corrupt  judge  ;  but 
it  has  an  opposite  effect  on  the  eyes  of  money-lov- 
ers— when  the  guinea  is  before  them,  they  can  see 
nothing  else  ! 

This  chapter  will  be  concluded  with  a  few  re- 
marks on  Gymnastic  Exercises.  That  boys  should 
play,  and  play  honestly  and  actively  and  joyously, 
even  if  somewhat  boisterously,  no  man  who  has  had 
much  to  do  with  schools  for  a  moment  doubts.  Nor 
does  plenty  of  play,  at  suitable  times,  the  least  in- 
terfere with  studies  ;  on  the  other  hand,  it  greatly 
aids  the  studies.  Generally  speaking,  the  best  schol- 
ars play  the  best ;  although  the'  reverse  is  not  ne- 
cessarily true.  But  play  and  recreation  may  be 
made  conducive  to  a  very  valuable  purpose,  sepa- 
rate from  the  beneficial  result  upon  the  studies. 
While  a  boy  plays,  he  may  be  made  to  acquire  pro- 
digious strength  and  activity ;   and    this,  combined 


294  CHAPTER   V. 

with  beauty  of  form  and  grace  of  movement.  And 
that  end,  although  it  may  be  in  some  degree  attained 
by  any  suitable  exercises,  such  as  running,  leaping, 
playing  ball,  and  the  like,  is  more  speedily  and  more 
effectually  attained  by  the  exercises  of  a  properly 
regulated  gymnasium. 

Good  schools  would  be  rendered  better  by  this 
appendix  to  tiieir  studies  and  fixtures.  That  so  few 
have  gjannasiums  must  be  entirely  owing  to  igno- 
rance of  their  utility :  it  may,  sometimes,  be  owing 
to  misconception  of  their  nature.  A  gymnasium 
may  not  be  properly  constructed ;  or  it  may  not  be 
properly  directed ;  or  it  may  not  be  directed  at  all, 
the  pupils  being  left  to  self-instruction  :  in  which 
cases,  no  very  valuable  results  are  to  be  expected, 
and  sometimes  hurtful  accidents.  In  a  proper  gym- 
nasium, properly  directed  and  governed,  every  mus- 
cle of  the  body  is  exercised  and  strengthened  ;  while 
accidents,  except  of  a  trivial  sort,  are  by  far  less 
than  at  the  ordinary  sports  of  the  play-ground. 
The  exercises  of  the  gymnasium  may  be  taken  in 
all  kinds  of  weather,  both  in  winter  and  summer ; 
and  they  will  supersede,  more  or  less,  many  games 
and  plays — some  doubtful  in  their  character,  and 
others  trifling,  if  not  silly. 

A  gymnasium,  by  which  is  meant  the  house  and 
the  fixtures  or  apparatus,  should  be  erected  and  dis- 
posed, under  the  direction  of  an  experienced  and 
practical  gymnast.  Without  this,  the  instruments 
may  be  mere  lumber.  Besides,  if  the  whole  is  done 
according  to  a  suitable  plan,  few  things  are  made  to 


SCHOOLS,  IN  THEIR  KINDS,  SORTS  AND  VARIirriES.       jfjrj 

answer  many  purposes  ;  and  thus,  many  dollars  are 
saved  that  otherwise  would  be  wasted  on  needless 
fixtures. 

An  instructor  is  necessary  ;  for  the  whole  of  gym- 
nastics is  really  an  art,  and  that  art  has  its  principles. 
Without  a  teacher,  deformity  and  weakness  might 
be  the  result,  by  working  in  a  wrong  way,  or  at  a 
wrong  time.  The  gymnasium,  too,  if  ungoverned, 
would,  after  the  novelty  had  passed,  degenerate 
into  a  play-house  ;  but  while  amusement  and  recre- 
ation are  always  found,  work  and  labor  are  the  es- 
sential features  of  a  good  gymnasium.  Few  will 
continue  with  perseverance  and  punctuality  sufH- 
cient  to  reap  the  wonderful  advantages,  unless  they 
are  compelled.  Hence,  school-boys  so  often  be- 
come expert  gymnasts,  while  young  men,  who  are 
their  own  masters,  rarely  excel.  And  hence,  school- 
boys who  are  forced  year  after  year  to  exercise  in 
the  gymnasium,  shall,  at  eighteen  or  twenty,  surpass 
most  unexercised  men  of  any  age.  Besides,  their 
strength  shall  abide  throughout  life. 

The  object  of  these  exercises  is  not  that  men 
may  perform  extraordinary  feats  of  strength  or  agil- 
ity ;  and  yet,  so  easy  do  difficulties  become,  that 
hundreds  of  exercises,  accounted  feats  by  strangers 
to  the  exercises,  are  done  daily  by  boys,  and  without 
an  effort  or  a  thought.  But  when  occasions  in  ac- 
tual life  do  arise,  in  which  daring  actions  of  strength 
and  agility  must  be  done,  persons  trained  f  )r  years 
in  gymnastic  exercises  will  do  them,  as  if  they 
were  only  a  little  different  from  oi-dinary  actions. 
Strange  !  that  spite  of  all  the  countless  lectures  and 


jQg  CHAPTER   V. 

essays  on  "  physical  education,"  that  sort  of  educa- 
tion should  be  so  singularly  neglected.  True,  under 
the  impulse  of  the  moment,  attempts  are  every  now 
and  then  made  by  young  men  at  colleges  or  in  villa- 
ges to  exercise  in  gymnasiums  ;  but  when  the  novelty 
is  passed,  and  the  labor  remains,  the  enthusiasm  sub- 
sides, and  "  physical  education  "  is  at  an  end.  Board- 
ing-schools, however,  ought  not  to  neglect  the  phys- 
ical training  of  their  pupils  ;  and  they  can  easily  be 
thus  trained  under  a  suitable  instructor.  This  booK 
professes  to  be  the  result  of  experience  ;  nor  is  this 
part  of  it  any  exception.  The  author  has  experi- 
enced, in  his  own  case,  the  great  advantages  of  a 
gymnasium.  If  ever  there  was  a  case  w^here  an 
allowable  accommodation  of  Scripture  words  exists, 
it  is  his  own — "  youth  renewed  like  the  eagle's ;" 
and  his  deep  and  abiding  conviction  of  the  great  ad- 
vantage of  gymnastic  exercises  thus  acquired  by 
experiment,  induces  the  author,  for  the  sake  of  good 
to  others,  to  obtrude  himself. 

The  present  occasion  is  a  proper  one  for  saying 
that  two  things  are  very  desirable,  nay,  almost  in- 
dispensable addenda  to  all  theological  seminaries  ; 
and,  if  it  depended  on  the  author,  every  orthodox 
theological  institution  in  the  land  should  have  a 
gymnasium,  and  a  teacher  of  reading  and  speaking. 

What  more  humiliating  than  the  many  puny,  ill- 
formed,  effeminate  young  clergymen ! — as  though 
piety  and  paleness,  theology  and  thinness,  devotion 
and  dyspepsy,  were  all  twin  sisters  ! — as  if  the  pul- 
pit were  disgraced  by  able-bodied  and  robust  minis- 
ters !    Surelv  false  sentiments  of  dienitv  and  consist- 


SCHOOLS,  IN  THEIR  KINDS,  SORTS  ANL  VARICTII.S.       |g- 

ency  must  be  prevalent,  if  the  efTeminacy  of  young 
clergymen  can  be,  for  a  moment,  tolerated  ;  or  if  a 
feminine  look  and  manner  be  deemed  interesting. 
Alas  !  it  is  sometimes  considered  indicative  of  extra- 
ordinary goodness  !  And  there  are  Pharisees  that 
would  shudder  at  the  thought  of  a  gymnasium  for  a 
theological  school,  as  if  it  savored  of  worldly-mind- 
edness.  Many  think  that  moral  light  is  like  natural, 
and  cannot  shine  out  of  a  man,  unless  through  some 
transparency  of  the  flesh  macerated  by  fastings  ! 

Silly  sentiments  are  found  among  very  good  men. 
Religion  does  not  wholly  remove  the  weakness  of 
the  natural  understanding.  Allectation  still  clings  to 
the  naturally  vain  and  priggish  ;  and  these  do  the 
religious,  as  they  were  wont  to  do  other  things — 
they  put  it  on  in  a  style  of  their  own,  and  wish  to 
set  a  fashion  for  their  brethren.  These  people  often 
pet  young  clergymen  and  nurse  them  into  a  most  dis- 
gustful semblance  to  themselves.  But  while  they  pity 
such  for  weakness,  they  had  better  rebuke  them  for 
sheer  laziness  !  Doubtless  tobacco  has  slain  some  ; 
but  laziness  has  killed  more.  A  society  for  the 
suppression  of  inactivity,  and  for  the  promotion  of 
"  bodily  exercise,"  would  be  just  as  wise,  and  quite 
as  eflicacious,  as  anti-chewing  and  smoking  corpora- 
tions. The  noxious  weed  might  be  allow'ed,  if  di- 
vinity students  would  work  an  hour  a  day  in  a  gym- 
nasium. Nor  does  this  permission  arise  from  self- 
indulgence  ;  we  neither  snuff  nor  scent  in  the  to- 
bacco line,  except  by  way  of  good-natured  endur- 
ance of  the  infirmity  of  the  weaker  brethren. 

Had  the  author  power  over  other  men's  purses, 


198  CHAPTER     V. 

or  a  purse  heavy  enough  of  his  own,  he  would  at- 
tach a  gymnasium  with  its  teacher  to  every  theo- 
logical school ;  and  admit  no  student  till  he  had 
pledged  his  word  to  exercise  one  hour  daily  in  the 
gymnasium,  Sundays  excepted.  He  should  make  it 
a  point  of  conscience.  A  teacher  would  be  neces- 
sary at  first  only :  young  men  could  soon  teach 
themselves,  and  some  expert  gymnasts  would  al- 
ways be  in  the  school  to  instruct  the  new  students. 
But  a  gymnast  should  be  the  first  instructor. 

Dignity  is  useful  in  its  place.  It  cannot  be 
learned,  however,  and  is  very  ridiculous  and  offen- 
sive when  put  on.  Of  itself  it  does  little  good,  even 
where  natural  to  men  ;  but  where  made  a  substitute  for 
benevolence  or  active  duty,  it  deserves  to  be  laughed 
at.  The  truest  dignity  for  a  Christian  minister  is  a 
faithful  discharge  of  duty  in  his  natural  manner  ; 
and  to  fit  him  for  that  discharge  in  the  best  way  and 
for  the  longest  period,  health  and  strength  are  of 
prime  importance.  Perfumes,  lassitude,  and  all  the 
et  cetera  of  clerical  effeminacy,  may  be  left  to  such 
as  do  not  prefer  hearty  nature  to  sickly  nicety.  We 
need  men  for  Protestant  pulpits  :  women  the  apostle 
has  forbidden  to  teach. 

As  to  Elocution,  the  author,  with  due  deference, 
considers  what  usually  goes  by  the  name  of  Oratory, 
as  of  very  small  account  for  the  pulpit.  Eloquence, 
indeed,  which  is  something  different  from  mere  ora- 
tory, is  highly  valuable  ;  but  even  that  is  not  indis- 
pensable. The  most  successful  preachers  have,  and 
not  rarely,  been  destitute  of  any  other  eloquence 
than   what   belongs   to  earnest  manner  and  pious 


SCHOOLS",  IN  THEIR  KINDS,  SOllTS  AXD  VARIETIKS.       J99 

hearts,  God  seems  to  prefer  here,  as  in  many  other 
matters,  "  the  small  things  ;"  that  the  success  of  the 
Gospel  may  not  seem  owing  to  the  wit  of  man.  But 
cleaa*,  distinct  articulation  is  so  vitally  important  to 
a  preacher  of  the  Gospel,  that  an  irreparable  want  of 
that  power  should  debar  a  candidate  from  the  office 
of  the  ministry. 

The  design,  therefore,  in  having  reading  and 
speaking  taught  systematically  and  perseveringly  in 
a  theological  school  is,  by  no  means,  as  some  might 
conjecture,  to  teach  or  make  what  is  usually  under- 
stood by  the  term — orators.  These,  we  apprehend, 
cannot  be  made — they  are  born.  Or,  rather,  certain 
talents  and  susceptibilities  necessary  to  an  orator 
must  be  con-natural  ;  and  where  these  exist  the 
orator  may  be  developed  ;  or  if  he  accidentally 
break  forth,  he  may  be  pruned,  trained,  and  in  many 
ways  aided  by  art  to  reach  his  highest  eminence. 
The  design  is  to  form  preachers,  that  they  may  be 
easily  and  distinctly  heard  in  any  house  usually  de- 
voted to  preaching  ;  and  that  they  may  with  ease 
accommodate  their  voices  to  the  sizes  of  diflerent 
rooms. 

It  would  seem  that  what  is  so  natural  to  us,  and 
so  necessary,  might  be  safely  left  to  itself.  But  al- 
though articulate  speech  is  one  of  our  characteristic 
distinctions  from  the  irrational  animals,  few  people 
know  how  to  talk  ;  very  few  can  read  ;  not  one 
in  a  million  can  speak  !  IIow  painful  and  hc^'  won- 
derful, to  find  so  many  highly  educated  men  in  the 
pulpit  that  cannot  be  understood  when  they  speak  ! 
How  distressing  and  vexatious,  when  it  is  known  that 


200  CMAPTKR    V. 

the  best  of  men  are  pouring  forth  treasures  from  ex- 
haustless  stores  ;  and  this,  when  clear,  articulate, 
distinct  enunciation  is  within  their  reach,  or  was 
once,  though  now  it  may  be  too  late. 

Perhaps  the  remedy  of  bad  articulation,  or  the 
prevention,  is  so  simple  that  it  is  despised.  The  rem- 
edy, however,  must  be  laboriously  and  persever- 
ingly  used  ;  and  as  this  takes  a  good  deal  of  time, 
theological  students  deem  the  time  misspent ;  some 
deem  it,  perhaps,  a  sin.  Prejudice  has,  we  know, 
arisen  on  this  subject  from  the  overweening  conceit 
and  folly  of  many  teachers,  real  and  pretended, 
of  elocution.  These,  too  often,  talk  and  act  as  if 
the 'salvation  of  the  world  depended  on  elocution; 
a  folly  most  persons  commit  who  substitute  a  part 
for  a  whole  in  anything — morals,  politics,  religion,  or 
learning.  Indeed,  the  narrower  their  base  the 
grander  they  propose  to  erect  the  superstructure. 
The  men  of  one  book  are  to  be  dreaded  in  one 
sense ;  the  men  of  one  idea  in  another.  Professed 
elocutionists  frequently  fall  into  a  grand  error — try- 
ing to  make  all  men  speak  and  read  in  the  same 
way.  For  while  some  things  are  common  to  all  es- 
sentially good  reading  and  speaking,  idiosyncracy 
varies  and  colors  for  itself.  Nothing  more  is  here 
contended  for  than  clear,  distinct  articulation,  and  a 
voice  trained  to  suit  the  size  of  any  building.  Add 
also  an  easy  and  graceful  carriage  of  the  body,  and 
unimpeded,  natural  use  of  the  hands.  The  whole 
style,  manner,  force,  pathos,  inflection,  and  all  other 
matters,  by  no  means  to  be  despised  however,  may 
yet  be  safely  left  to  every  man's  taste,  genius  and 
feeling. 


SCHOOLS,  IN  TUKIR   KINDS,  fORTS  AND  VARIETIKS.        jjQJ 

Great,  indeed,  would  be  the  error,  and  most  ridic- 
ulous in  itself — any  thought,  care,  or  eflbrt  in  regard 
to  voice,  or  gesture,  or  accent,  at  the  time  of  speak- 
ing. All  things  must  be  so  mastered  and  practised 
in  private  as  to  become  natural  to  us,  and  then  voice 
and  everything  else  spontaneously  and  instinctively 
accommodates  itself  to  all  circumstances,  in  the 
same  way  it  does  in  singers,  or  as  do  our  limbs  in 
the  daily  and  hourly  actions.  No  one  thinks  of 
rules  who  plays  an  instrument  of  which  he  is  master. 
No  adept  swims  by  a  book.  A  very  worthy  brother 
did,  indeed,  so  misapprehend  a  lesson  given  gratui- 
tously by  a  friend,  that  he  essayed  its  practice  in  his 
next  sermon,  but,  after  laboring  very  conscientiously 
to  inhale  and  exhale  at  the  proper  intervals,  and  to 
explode  his  voice  at  each  sentence,  he  declared  that 
the^whole  was  too  laborious,  and  did  not  seem  to 
assist  any.  In  his  case,  indeed,  there  certainly  was 
additional  ground  of  dissatisfaction  ;  for,  alas  !  he  had 
unwittingly  sucked  in  his  breath,  when  he  should 
have  allowed  its  egress  ! 

But  can  any  folly  be  more  preposterous  than  the 
expectation  of  benefiting  men  by  our  preaching,  it 
they  cannot  hear  us  ?  We  may  think  what  we 
please  about  this  and  that  method  of  acquiring  dis- 
tinct utterance,  but  it  is  a  grievous  sin  against  Christ 
our  Master,  if  we  refuse  to  overcome  an  impediment 
in  our  voice  or  strengthen  a  weakness.  Besides,  a 
teacher  for  a  theological  school  need  not  be  spe- 
cially employed.  In  all  these  schools  are  young 
men  of  extensive  learning,  of  fine  taste,  of  undoubted 
genius ;  and  not  infrequently  themselves  born  to  be 


202 


CHAPTER    V. 


good  speakers,  if  not  great  orators.  Let  one  or 
more  of  these,  whether  '*  brothers  of  high  or  low 
degree,"  be  chosen  as  teachers,  and  then,  let  "  the 
brethren"  honestly  and  gratefully,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  such,  submit  to  an  incessant  drill  in  articula- 
tion and  other  exercises  of  the  voice.  Let  them 
practise  on  all  keys,  from  the  almost  inaudible  whis- 
per of  a  profound  bass  to  the  finest  altissimo  of  fal- 
setto tones  ;  in  volume ;  in  diminuendo,  crescendo, 
forte,  piano.  Let  them  learn  to  talk  up  and  down  a 
scale,  and  to  speak  the  common  chord  ;  to  speak  one 
word  on  the  octave  and  another  in  the  key  note  ;  let 
them  do  all  with  a  speaking  voice  that  is  usually 
done  with  a  singing  voice.  Let  them  practise  sus- 
taining the  voice,  by  uttering  monotonously  senten- 
ces, from  short  to  long,  at  every  pitch.  Many  of 
these  methods  are  taught  in  no  books.  Let  the 
teachers  elected  derive  all  they  can  from  books : 
their  own  good  sense  and  ingenuity  will  invent  and 
vary  ad  libitum  and  almost  ad  infinitum. 

Great  interest  may  be  kept  up  for  a  long  while  ; 
but,  when  the  interest  ceases,  still  let  young  men  de- 
voted to  Christ,  persevere  with  endless  iterations 
till  they  can  read  and  speak  articulately,  and  with- 
out weariness,  for  an  hour  and  a  half,  in  any  kind 
of  a  room  in  which  they  are  likely  to  preach.  Then, 
let  each  go  forth,  strong  in  body  and  voice,  as 
well  as  in  faith  and  love  ;  and  then  "  in  a  known 
voice  and  tongue,"  as  God  shall  give  him  utterance, 
let  him  in  simplicity,  or  in  eloquence,  or  in  mechan- 
ical skill,  preach  Christ. 


CHAPTER    VI 


COMMON     SCHOOLS. 

Like  other  words  or  names,  representing  several 
ideas,  the  term,  Common  School,  suggests  ditlerent 
thoughts  to  different  persons,  and  to  the  same  per- 
son, at  different  times  and  places.  The  effect  on 
the  mind  may  sometimes  be  evil,  and  even  w  hen 
good  is  meant.  Perhaps  no  class  of  words  do  more 
harm,  at  times,  than  those  which  are  designed  to 
represent  good  things,  and  yet,  at  the  same  mo- 
ment, introduce  by  association  evil  or  mean  things. 
The  latter  often  substitute  themselves  for  the  for- 
mer, or  lessen  the  effect  of  the  good  :  as  when  we  find 
a  very  worthy  person  in  contact  ever  with  the  vile, 
although  he  may  not  be  a  companion  or  a  friend. 
We  cannot  sec  the  excellent  person,  without  think- 
ing of  the  mean  man :  we  wish,  at  least,  the  honor- 
able person  had  a  contiguousness  with  what  was 
like  himself 

By  common,  applied  to  schools,  is  sometimes 
meant  the  lower  English  branches,  the  elements  of 
learning — common  branches.  In  that  case,  the 
term  primary,  preparatory,  elementary,  is  prefer- 
able ;    for,  these  are  the  beginning  of  all  learning. 


204 


CIIAI'TER     V. 


and  partake  of  its  noble  and  excellent  character. 
There  is  as  much  honor  in  beginning,  as  in  finishing. 
The  summit  of  learning  could  never  be  reached,  if 
the  first  steps  of  the  ascent  were  not  taken.  We 
may  not  carelessly  apply  a  word  that  may  tend  to 
destroy  the  impression  we  might  and  ought  to  have 
of  the  essential  importance  and  grandeur  of  these 
elementary  studies. 

Sometimes,  by  common  schools,  however,  is 
meant,  schools  for  the  common  people — from  which 
is  an  easy  declination  to  the  poorer  sort  of  people  ; 
and  then,  the  term  is  fraught  with  many  and  great 
evils.  It  tends  at  once  to  divide  the  community 
into  classes.  And  hence,  while  we  profess  zeal  for 
the  welfare  of  society,  and  a  wish  to  equalize, 
wherever  possible — and  it  is  more  practicable  in 
both  learning  and  religion,  than  is  usually  thought — 
we  have  invented  a  term  that  creates  castes  where 
they  had  not  existed,  and  recognizes  them  where 
they  have  existed.  It  is  no  part  of  an  educator's 
duty  to  create  factitious  distinctions,  nor  to  minis- 
ter to  the  pride  of  a  monied  or  fashionable  aristoc- 
racy. And  yet,  amidst  our  benevolent  zeal  for 
man's  intellectual  advantage,  we  indirectly  create 
and  acknowledge  radical  distinctions  in  society, 
such  as  the  self-called  superior  classes  themselves 
had  hardly  dared,  even  with  power  in  their  hands^ 
to  legalize.  This  may  seem  too  fine  ;  but  less 
things  than  this  produce  quite  as  important  results. 
The  very  sneer  and  contempt  with  which  the  word 
common  school  is  often  uttered,  shows  our  suspi- 
cions to  be  well  founded. 


COMMON    SCHOOLS. 


205 


It  may  be  said,  the  schools  in  question  are  so 
called,  because  common  to  the  poor  and  rich  !  So 
is  a  third-rate  tavern  ;  but  the  rich  do  not  often  visit 
such — the  poor  are  allowed  to  have  all  the  common- 
ness to  themselves.  Besides,  what  school  is  not 
common  to  poor  and  rich,  provided  the  poor  could 
contrive  to  pay  the  fees  of  a  high  school  ?  The 
cheapest  schools  could  not  be  common  in  any  other 
sense,  if  money  from  some  quarter  did  not  sustain 
them ;  and  if  the  poor  could  pay  the  price,  the  low- 
est or  highest  school  would  be  open. 

That  the  poor  should  be  educated,  and  that 
money  should  be  paid  for  them,  we  both  affirm  and 
will  directly  argue  ;  but  our  object  now  is  to  depre- 
cate from  schools  in  which  many  poor  are  educated, 
names  that  may  mark  them.  Such  names  widen 
the  gulph,  already  nearly  impassable,  in  certain 
quarters,  between  the  poor  and  rich  ;  they  acknowl- 
edge the  visibility  of  that  separation  ;  they  force 
many  good  men  to  see  what  they  wish  to  shut  from 
sight.  Charity  sometimes  turns  all  eyes  upon  a 
poor  worshipper,  by  assigning  him  a  pew  in  a 
corner  !  although  in  superfine  churches,  she  gives 
hin^a  pew  nowhere — not,  perhaps,  by  voting  him 
ou^o  much  as  by  dressing  him  out.  As  some  evil 
may  arise  from  the  word  common,  and  none  from 
the  other  words  often  used,  such  as  primary,  ele- 
mentary, and  the  like,  we  shall  use  in  the  sequel  one 
or  any  of  these  better  terms. 

That  elementary  schools  should  exist,  has  been 
repeatedly  affirmed.  An  important  inquiry,  how- 
ever, remains  : — Should  these  schools  be  a  matter 

m 


206  CMAPTKU    VI. 

of  independent  and  individunl,  or  of  private  and  as- 
sociate enterprise?  Oi%  on  the  other  hand,  shall 
they  be  sustained  by  geographical  districts,  or  by 
the  Avhole  State  as  a  civil  and  State  policy,  and  by 
taxation,  direct  or  indirect  1 

The  author  inclines  to  the  former  opinion.  Be- 
fore entering  on  a  statement  of  reasons,  he  would 
prevent  or  remove  an  impression  adverse  to  the 
calm  consideration  of  the  subject,  and  prejudicial  to 
the  just  appreciation  of  the  arguments ;  and  hence, 
it  is  distinctly  said  now,  what  will  be  repeated  and 
enlarged  directly,  that  provision  ought  to  be  made 
for  the  education  of  the  poor ;  and  that  legislatures 
and  corporate  bodies,  intrusted  with  the  collection 
and  appropriation  of  public  moneys,  may,  in  their 
wisdom,  allot  portions  for  educational,  as  for  all 
other  purposes  important  to  the  common  weal. 

1.  From  a  careful  reading  and  consideration  of 
the  foregoing  chaptei's,  among  other  convictions, 
there  must  have  been  left  an  impression  on  the  mind, 
that  the  management  of  a  school,  and  the  applica_ 
tion  of  any  system  of  education,  belongs  to  one  class 
of  men,  and  to  that  class  exclusively — practical 
teachers,  of  many  years'  experience.  Dictation  to 
such,  from  any  quarter,  but  specially  from  the  un- 
skilled, is  an  impertinence,  at  best — often  an  inso- 
lence ;  and  interference  from  such,  if  allowed  or 
forced,  can  only  distract,  harass,  and  finally  ruin. 

But  in  schools  controlled  as  public  schools  (that  is, 
legislative  and  similar  schools)  are  sometimes,  and 
may  be  constantly  it  comes  to  })ass,  that  the  inter- 
ference will  be   perpetually,  not  a  benevolent  and 


COMMON    SCIIOOLf^.  ^Ol 

skillful  overseeing,  but  an  officious  and  pragmatical 
meddling.  The  books — the  studies — the  mode  of 
teaching — the  discipline — the  whole  system — the 
very  teachers  themselves — shall  all  be  watched,  criti- 
cised, scolded,  ordered,  a  thousand  ways  !  If  all 
this  w'ere  by  persons  long  experienced,  and  pro- 
foundly versed  in  learning  and  teaching,  the  control 
would  be  endurable :  but  this  interference  is  often 
by  truly  ignorant  persons,  and  almost  always  by 
men  who  know  no  more  of  teaching  than  they  do 
of  type-cutting.  How  often  the  meddlesome  person 
is  a  second  or  third-rate  local  politician,  in  search  of 
popularity  and  office,  who  in  this  way  seeks  to  ingra- 
tiate himself  with  parents  !  Many  small  gentlemen> 
elected  superintendents  or  visiters  of  some  sort, 
think  they  must  do  something  ;  and  that  they  wil^ 
do,  whether  anything  is  to  be  done  or  not.  For 
what  were  they  elected  or  appointed  ?  The  legis- 
lature awaits  their  report  !  The  world  is  impatient 
to  have  the  journal  of  their  proceedings !  Shall 
they  seem  ignorant  or  careless  ?  They  must,  there- 
fore, find  fault  and  amend.  And  of  course,  if  we 
make  a  business  of  anything,  we  can  find  or  make — 
especially,  if  honored  and  paid  for  it  !  Hence,  more 
unmitigated  and  atrocious  twattle  never  was 
penned,  than  the  profoundly  pompous  reports  of 
nothingness,  in  the  shape  of  official  statements  of 
school  visitations  !  And  what  paltry  jealousies  and 
envyings,  about  the  distribution  of  patronage  !  And 
how  teachers  are  often  reproached,  as  if  rioting  on 
the  spoils  and  plunder  of  the  people  !  Sometimes, 
too,  they  are  called  u     to  be  paid  their  pittance,  as 


OQQ  CHAPTER    VI. 

swine  are  invited  to  a  pig-trough  !  Sometimes  they 
are  even  disappointed — the  trough  being  miracu- 
lously empty  ! 

From  this  insolence,  turmoil,  and  meanness,  the 
best  teachers  escape  whenever  possible ;  and  com- 
mon education  becomes  commoner.  Bees,  it  is  said, 
endure  not  constant  meddling  with  their  hives  ;  but 
when  they  are  thumped,  rattled,  pushed,  and  blown 
around,  the  bees  fly  away.  Teachers  imitate  bees, 
and  whenever  they  can,  escape  the  din  and  strife  of 
a  thousand  self-conceited  tinkers,  swarming  around 
their  schools.  They  prefer  peace  to  war,  freedom. 
to  slavery.  For  if,  in  addition  to  the  watchfulness 
and  rebukes  of  parents,  who  have  a  right  to  inspect 
and  find  fault,  teachers,  because  of  some  small  allot- 
ment of  public  money,  must  bear  the  control  and 
obey  the  orders  of  a  dozen  or  more  officials,  they 
lose  their  independence  and  manliness — they  are 
slaves  ! — and  some,  alas  !  are  contented  or  awed 
slaves,  who  hug  their  chains  and  polish  the  links  ! 
Keen  discerners  see  in  such  a  debased  and  dejected 
spirit — they  crouch  and  fawn  like  dogs !  they  bring 
contempt  on  the  profession  !  Slaves  were  peda- 
gogues at  Rome  ;  and  our  experimenters  in  educa- 
tion, while  they  go  for  the  largest  liberty  for  the 
people,  and  strive  to  make  their  education  cost 
nothing — apparently,  do  all  this  at  the  expense  of  the 
teacher's  manliness  and  freedom,  and  his  pocket. 
Indeed,  what  slavery  can  be  more  complete,  than  to 
live  in  constant  anxiety  and  fear  ?  to  fear  the  parents 
and  the  children  ?  to  fear  the  people  and  the  legisla- 
ture ?    to  fear  the  trustees  and  visiters,  the  dema- 


COMMON    SCHOOLS.  OQQ 

gogue,  the  superintendent,  the  opposite  sectaries, 
yea  !  the  very  infidel  and  atheist  ?  to  earn  a  miser- 
able pittance  thrice  over?  to  have  the  character,  the 
domestic  circumstances,  open  to  impertinent  scru- 
tiny ?  to  have  the  mouths  counted,  that  corn  just 
sufficient  may  be  measured  out  ?  and,  after  all,  to 
be  liable  to  an  unceremonious  dismissal  at  a  mo- 
ment's warning  ?  Alas  !  poor  slave — he  is  to  be 
pitied !  and  yet,  in  a  thousand  cases,  he  deserves  it. 
If  he  be  incompetent  as  a  teacher,  the  treatment  is 
a  just  punishment  for  his  Avicked  presumption — en- 
gaging in  a  noble  and  holy  cause,  without  the  ability  ; 
and  if  competent,  that  he  should  meanly  sell  himself, 
when  the  world  is  full  of  other  employments. 

Under  these  and  similar  circumstances,  it  would 
be  strange  if  public  schools  disappointed  not  the  ex- 
pectations of  their  advocates  ;  and  while  the  circum- 
stances continue,  disappointment  must  continue. 
Where  meanness  and  degradation  exist  in  the  heart, 
similar  fruits  will  be  borne.  Public  schools  may 
occasionally  be  found  exempt  from  these  evils  ;  but 
these  evils  are  incident  to  their  nature  ;  and  if  an 
Argus  watch  with  an  hundred  eyes,  when  he  sleeps 
with  one,  his  charge  is  in  jeopardy. 

It  seems  unreasonable  to  object  to  the  examina- 
tion of  teachers  by  competent  examiners.  And  yet, 
when  even  competent  persons  examine,  the  truth  is, 
with  great  difficulty,  elicited  ;  and  usually  injustice 
is  done  to  the  candidate  by  an  erroneous  and  too 
low  an  estimate,  or  to  the  coniniunity  by  too  high 
an  estimate.  The  mischief  belonging  to  the  recom- 
mendation of  books  pertains  to  this  subject,  and  in 


210  CHAPTER   VI. 

lime  no  more  dependence  is  placed  on  a  certificate 
of  examination  than  on  a  newspaper  advertisement. 
Any  teacher  has  testimonials,  or,  if  his  moral  char- 
acter is  not  impeached,  he  can  procure  them  ;  and, 
therefore,  the  people  can  no  more,  from  this  source, 
discriminate  in  the  character  and  competency  of 
men,  than  in  the  qualities  of  books.  Both  are  taken 
at  a  venture. 

Usually,  examinations,  such  as  they  are,  are  made 
by  incompetent  examiners,  and  that  is  almost  of  ne- 
cessity the  case  when  examiners  are  not  practical 
teachers.  Men  cannot  be  voted  into  good  examin- 
ers any  more  than  into  good  teachers.  The  sover- 
eignty of  the  people  in  the  mass,  or  delegated  to 
representatives,  is  efficacious  enough  in  some  things 
and  to  be  venerated  in  its  sphere  ;  but  it  cannot  be- 
stow mental  qualities,  or  bodily  strength,  as  it  can 
money  and  place.  Examinations,  then,  by  mere 
voted  or  elected  examiners,  is  a  foolery  in  itself,  and 
not  rarely  a  vile  injustice  to  the  teacher  ;  although 
the  teacher  who  voluntarily  subjects  himself  to  such 
examiners  deserves  to  be  baulked  in  his  hopes,  and 
to  depart  with  a  suspicion  attached  to  his  profes- 
sional character.  Men  ought  to  be  examined,  as 
well  as  tried,  by  their  peers.  If  they  will  acknowl- 
edge incompetency  as  competency,  let  them  submit 
to  an  adverse  decision  without  repining.  Many  an 
inexperienced,  although  talented,  learned  and  wor- 
thy young  man,  has  been  stamped  by  the  ignorant 
and  conceited  with  a  brand  that  months,  and  some- 
times years,  are  required  to  erase.  The  author  is 
wholly  averse  to  any  college  of  examiners,  what- 


COMMON  sriioni.s. 


211 


ever  be  the  moral,  intellectual,  and  even  practical 
character  of  the  faculty.  The  beginning  may  be 
well ;  the  argument  in  its  favor  is  plausible  ;  but  the 
end  must  be  disastrous.  No  set  of  examiners  can 
judge  of  a  young  man  till  he  is  tried,  and  it  cannot 
be  known  a  priori  how  he  will  teach — that  must  be 
tested  by  the  act  and  effort  itself.  The  spirit  of  the 
age  here  shows  itself  as  in  all  other  matters :  all 
must  be  done  by  masses,  by  corporations,  societies, 
colleges.  And  yet  all  this  care  to  be  public,  and  to 
give  publicity  to  everything,  is  no  guarantee  against 
ignorance,  incompetency,  injustice,  selfishness,  par- 
tiality, tyranny  !  These  very  bodies  catch  the  spirit 
of  sovereignty,  and  wish  to  make  themselves  feared, 
respected,  courted  !  and  from  their  insolence,  injus- 
tice, and  oppression,  there  is  no  escape  till  their  des- 
potism becomes  general  and  intolerable,  and  revolu- 
tion dashes  down  their  thrones  to  erect  new  ones  ! 

There  is  no  need  of  any  college  of  examiners. 
A  recommendation  from  the  high  schools,  acade- 
mies, colleges,  where  a  young  man  has  been  educa- 
ted, and  perhaps  been  employed  as  an  usher  or  tutor, 
is  free  from  suspicion ;  and  that  recommendation 
only  presents  him  to  a  community  or  society  at  large 
as  a  person  worthy  of  being  tried  as  a  teacher.  It 
shows  merely  that  the  young  man  has  learning  suf- 
ficient, and  is  of  good  moral  character ;  and  that 
learned  men,  his  tutors  and  friends,  believe  he  will 
make,  in  time,  a  good  teacher.  And  what  more  could 
a  college  of  examiners  say,  especially  if  they  had  no 
previous  acquaintance  with  the  person  I  and,  if  they 
had,  what  n)ore  dare  they  say  I      The  success  or 


212  CHAPTER    VI. 

failure  of  the  young  man  depends  on  experiment. 
He  and  his  conimendators  are  honest  in  all  they  pro- 
fess and  say  :  the  public  understand,  this  point,  and 
the  young  man  is  put  upon  trial.  It  is  now  a  plain, 
easy,  honest,  common  sense  affair ;  but  some,  in  a 
mistaken  zeal,  would  render  it  complicated,  expen- 
sive, unmeaning,  unsatisfactory,  and  deceptive.  The 
educational  cause  is  in  danger  from  its  friends — its 
true  friends.  If  they  proceed  they  will  ruin  it,  just 
as  in  some  places  true  friends  ruined  the  temperance 
cause.  The  lessons  furnished  by  the  failures  of 
other  excellent  schemes,  from  the  rashness  or  pride 
of  their  ultra-going  advocates,  should  be  studied  and 
remembered. 

The  power  of  example  the  world  will  bear  in 
certain  associations,  but  the  power  of  sovereignty 
they  will  scorn.  Attempts  to  become  corporate  and 
receive  legislative  sanction,  will  become  the  signal 
of  the  rallying  and  concentrating  of  opposition.  It 
may  be  possible  that  a  legislature  adverse  to  the 
wishes  of  a  medical  faculty  may,  because  of  the 
seeming  popularity  of  the  step,  grant  to  a  college  of 
teachers  what  they  will  not  grant  to  a  college  of 
surgeons  and  physicians ;  but  yet  it  is  highly  im- 
probable that  what  in  many  States  has  been  refused 
to  the  latter  will  be  granted  to  the  former  ;  and  thus, 
in  addition  to  failure  with  the  legislature,  will  be  a 
triumphant  host  of  opponents,  and  not  a  few  ot 
these  opponents  former  friends. 

Preference  in  the  community,  on  a  large  or  small 
scale,  should,  as  a  general  rule,  be  given  to  such 
young  men  as  teachers  who  have  been  employed  as 


COMMON    SCHOOLS. 


213 


ushers  and  subordinate  tutors  in  well-known  schools. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  institute  comparisons  between 
normal   and  other  schools  as  to  the  superiority  of 
teachers  furnished  ;   but  this  may  very  safely  be  said 
— that  no  teachers  can    possibly  surpass  hundreds 
formed  in  independent  schools.     And  if  young  men 
can  learn  to  teach,  as  very  many  can,  in  connection 
with  good  principals  of  high  schools  or  academies^ 
and   under   their   supervision    and   guidance,  these 
young  men  need  no  normal,  school.     In  one  respect 
teachers  formed  in  academies  and  other  schools  have 
an  important  advantage  :  they  aid  in  teaching  chil- 
dren as  they  are,  and  not  children  furnished  for  the 
experiment,  ami   often   those    that  are    themselves 
intended  for  teachers ;   both  which,  to  a  large  extent, 
must  be  the  case  with  a  normal  school.     This  re- 
mark is  made  because  the  author  has  seen  school- 
advertisements  in  which  the  principal  says  his  assist- 
ant is  from  a  normal  school  ;  as  if  an  assistant  may 
not  equal   and  easily  surpass  the  best  that  can  be 
sent  forth  by  any  normal  school !     We  have,  in  this 
work,  no  special  quarrel  with  the  normal  school  sys- 
tem, but  we  must  forestall  a  prejudice  that  will  nat- 
urally, in   places,  arise  against  young  men  trained 
elsewhere  as  teachers.      Many  young  men,  as  the 
author  well  knows,  and  therefore  most  confidently 
affirms,  are  young  men  of  rare  excellence,  as  men 
of  genius,  learning,  piety,  and  skill  and  industry  as 
teachers,  who  could  not  if  they  would,  and  would 
not  if  they  could,  learn  to  teach  elsewhere  than  in 
an  academy  ;  who  would  submit  to  no  board  or  fac- 
ulty of  examiners,  legal  or  illegal,  and   who  should 
10* 


214 


CIIAPTER    VI. 


receive  a  preference  in  any  community  as  teachers. 
The  affected  or  real  scorn  with  which  it  is  said  some 
young  men  from  normal  schools  regard  other  young 
teachers,  is  in  some  cases  not  only  ungentlemanly, 
but  wonderfully  misplaced:  a  more  intimate  ac- 
quaintance with  the  essential  characters  and  skill  of 
both  would  make  the  self-sufficient  blush.  If  this 
report  be  unfounded,  still  the  improper  behavior, 
under  all  circumstances,  is  so  likely  to  occur,  that 
vounff  men  from  normal  schools,  admonished  in  time, 
may  be  careful  not  to  afford  so  powerful  an  argu- 
ment against  the  system. 

The  men  of  this  age  live  out  of  doors.  We  wish 
all  corn  ground  at  a  public  mill,  and  bolted  in  one 
vast  sifter  !  all  clothes  washed  in  one  big  tub,  and 
dried  on  a  line  stretched  to  the  gaze  of  the  world, 
to  inspect  the  quality  and  cut  of  every  nether  gar- 
ment, male  or  female !  and  all  must  feed  at  a  public 
table  !  Liberty  and  openness  for  all  ;  yet  no  indi- 
vidual separate  liberty  for  any  !  Each  must  do 
what  he  does  before  others — eat,  drink,  sleep,  think, 
talk,  die,  in  company  !  He  that  does  not  this  is  no 
republican  !  If  he  takes  not  liberty  in  common,  he 
shall  not  have  liberty  for  himself! 

2.  Another  objectionable  feature,  therefore,  in  a 
legislative  system  of  education  is,  it  becomes  arbi- 
trary and  anti-republican. 

By  those  persons,  who  believe  that  the  rich  and 
the  thriving  have  no  rights,  or  should  suffer  a  diminu- 
tion of  rights  ;  that  the  individual  man  is  ever  to  be 
sacrificed  to  the  theoretic  man,  this  may  be  treated 
with  a  sneer.     If  distinctions  in  societv  arisinsr  from 


COMMON     SCHOOL.'?.  215 

skill,  industry,  learning,  are  all  factitious  distinctions 
and  erroneous  ;  if  men  may  not  honestly  consult  their 
tastes,  and  avail  themselves  of  superior  advantages, 
either  accidental  or  sought  after  ;  if  after  proper  toil 
in  suitable  ways,  it  be  wicked  for  men  to  dress  bet- 
ter, eat  better,  or  do  or  have  anything  better  than 
others  less  fortunate  or  less  industrious  and  careful ; 
if  by  equalizing  be  understood  levelling  up,  if  possi- 
ble, but  levelling  down  rather  than  no  levelling,  then 
is  it  improper  and  presumptuous  to  have,  or  wish, 
any  other  education  lor  our  children  than  the  com- 
mon education,  and  all  may  be  forced  by  law  or 
public  opinion  to  have  one  kind  of  school  and  one 
sort  of  education. 

But,  if  the  essence  of  liberty  in  a  republic,  be  lib- 
erty to  seek  individual  advantage  and  happiness  in 
the  use  of  honorable  means,  and  not  interfering  un- 
necessarily and  illegally  with  others,  then  if  exten- 
sive and  liberal  education,  if  good  manners,  if  choice 
of  comrades  and  teachers  are  advantages,  whatever 
prevents  our  liberty  in  these  choices  and  tastes,  is  of 
the  nature  of  tyranny.  When  we  come  into  the  so- 
cial compact,  theoretically,  (for  civil  society  is  the 
natural'society,  and  constituted  such  by  God  himself,) 
we  come  that  we  may  enjoy  many  liberties,  by  the 
surrender  of  a  few,  and  those  of  small  importance  ; 
and  we  also  do  and  must  resist  the  formation  of  a 
society,  or  the  abuse  of  an  existing  formation,  by 
which  a  mere  mechanical  man  may  be  made. 
Christian  men  could  not  allow  to  be  formed  such  a 
republic  as  8parta,  in  the  da>s  of  Lycurgus,  nor 
nould  thev  reninin  members  ot"  it. 


216 


I'MAPTKR    VI. 


Majorities  do  compel — they  can  compel  ;  but,  that 
majorities  are  right  when  they  compel,  is  not  always 
the  case  ;  indeed,  that  the  right  is  with  a  majority  is 
never  self-evident.  King  Majority  may  be  a  despot 
as  well  as  any  other  king,  and  then  this  despot  may 
be  resisted ;  he  may  be  mistaken,  and  then  should 
be  instructed ;  he  may  be  a  madman,  and  then 
should  be  confined  and  have  his  keepers.  Majority 
has  no  right  to  avail  itself  of  numbers  to  oppress 
any  class.  The  sole  logic  is  not  in  or  by  a  ballot- 
box.  Alas!  the  faces  of  the  poor  may,  indeed, he 
ground  by  the  unjust  and  lordly  ones  of  the  earth  ; 
but  a  majority  of  political  persons,  poor  and  even 
houseless,  yea,  wanderers  from  other  lands,  (and 
some  for  whose  absence  their  own  countries  are  the 
better,)  can  be  made  to  do  that  special  kind  of  mill- 
ing, not,  indeed,  on  the  faces  of  the  rich,  but  of  in- 
dustrious persons,  whose  taste,  and  fancy,  and  views 
are  different  from  their  own.  A  state  of  thraldom 
under  the  government  of  mere  majority  may  be  so 
intolerable,  that  men  may  be  willing  to  prefer  exile 
or  death. 

Whatever,  therefore,  aims  at  compelling  us  to 
educate  our  children  as  tiie  mass  may  happen  to 
imagine,  or  be  represented  as  imagining,  to  be  the 
best  education,  is  of  the  nature  of  tyranny.  What 
liberty  is  that  which  forces  all  to  sit,  whether  they 
like  or  dislike  the  school,  on  one  bench?  to  be 
classed  in  one  form  ?  and  be  taught  by  one  man  ? 
This  may,  indeed,  be  done  by  law  :  it  may  seem  a  lit- 
eral carrying  out  of  the  constitution  ;  but  it  is  con- 
trary to  the  essence  and  spirit  of  free  government. 


COMMON    SCHOOLS.  o  |  7 

A  majority  ought  not  to  demand  it ;  they  ought, 
when  instructed,  to  correct  the  error.  And  aW  indi- 
rections to  attain  this  power  over  any  portion  of  a 
minority,  small  or  great,  are  crimes  and  misde- 
meanors deserving  severe  punishment. 

•'  The  public  good,"  is  the  sole  answer  most 
vouchsafe  to  all  argument  and  remonstrance  against 
any  scheme  of  moral,  political,  or  literary  agrarian- 
ism.  Provided  that  a  corporate  body  is  happy  as  a 
whole  and  in  the  mass  ;  provided  it  have  a  public, 
open,  visible  goodness  of  any  kind,  the  individuals 
may  be  separately  wretched,  poor,  illiterate.  Citi- 
zens are  thus  no  more  than  servants  and  slaves  to 
a  body  politic.  But  the  public  good  is  the  result  of 
individual  good  ;  and  the  most  flourishing,  potent, 
happy  states  are  composed  of  members  separately 
prosperous,  industrious,  strong,  healthy,  intelli- 
gent. Laws  and  government  make  not  the  people  so 
much  as  the  people  make  them :  man  is  not  made 
for  these  things,  they  are  made  for  him.  If,  how- 
ever, the  public  good  be  a  proper  plea  for  legislative 
schools,  let  us  try  the  force  of  that  plea  in  another 
and  kindred  direction. 

Knowledge  without  religion  can  never  make  or 
preserve  a  repuljlic.  Knowledge  separate  from  re- 
ligion may  even  propel  the  ruin  of  a  State.  A  com- 
munity of  atheists  may  constitute,  on  earth,  no  in- 
significant semblance  of  hell ;  nor  would  the  learn- 
ing of"  men  and  of  angels"  make  that  community  a 
free  and  generous  republic:  that  requires  "loveJ^* 
Give  men  religion  and  virtue,  and  the  state  is  safe. 
Fill  the  land,  therefore,  with  chnrrlips,  and  ministers 


218  CIlAI'TKll    VI. 

of  religion,  and  with  Bibles  and  religious  tracts,  and 
more  is  done  lor  the  permanency  of  our  repubtic, 
than  if  all  were  one  vast  common  school,  or  a  house 
of  learning,  with  a  myriad  of  godless  teachers. 
Why  not  legislate  in  favor  of  religious  institutions, 
and  by  law  compel  men  to  support  these  institu- 
tions, and  to  attend  church  ? 

Perish  the  man,  and  perish  the  State,  that  would 
seriously  advise  and  attempt  this  union  of  the  civil 
and  ecclesiastical  ;  and  yet  it  is,  essentially  as  bad  to 
compel  citizens  to  educate  in  the  mode  the  State,  or 
a  majority,  or  a  mass  may  determine.  We  may  as 
well  meddle  with  a  man's  religion,  as  with  the  mode 
of  his  education.  A  power  that  controls  the  edu- 
cation may,  in  time,  with  an  altered  population, 
trained  in  common  schools  without  religion,  control 
the  religion  of  the  country.  Possibly  no  such  use 
of  the  public  mind  thus  trained  in  schools  to  act  in 
masses,  is  avowed  ;  but  it  would  be  rash  to  say 
it  is  not  entertained.  They  that  believe  nothing  are 
easily  made  to  believe  anything  ;  just  as  disbeliev- 
ers in  angels  and  devils,  believe  often  in  revelations 
made  to  people  abnormally  asleep  !  The  extreme 
that  has  banished  religion  from  schools,  may  meet 
the  extreme  that  lets  a  religion  into  the  government ! 
Nil  desperandum  Teucro  duce  ! 

Perhaps  no  evil  would  arise  if  the  State  became 
"  a  nursing  father  and  mother  "  by  donations  of  mo- 
ney to  existing  schools  and  churches,  but  without 
asking  in  return  or  expecting  a  dictation  or  inter- 
ference in  their  arrangements.  But  all  attempt,  di- 
rect or  indirect,  will  be  more  or  less  abortive  ;  and 


COMMON    SCHOOLS. 


20) 


this  inevitable  frustration  constitutes  one  ground  of 
hope,  that  the  concentration  of  the  powers  of  educa- 
tion and  hterature,  will  be  found  as  impossible  as  the 
too  great  consolidation,  deemed  by  many  politicians 
essential  to  a  federal  government.  The  ultraism  of 
extreme  democracy  has  nearly  gone  around  far 
enough  to  meet  the  extreme  of  a  by-gone  political 
federalism  ;  but  if  all  this  be  done  by  a  mass-meet- 
ing, all  is,  of  necessity,  virtue,  liberty,  and  equality. 
This  force,  whether  of  law,  or  of  erroneous  nmd 
misdirected,  or  adroitly  directed  public  opinion,  is 
injurious  to  what  are  called  by  some  the  inferior 
classes,  and  to  the  poor:  it  begets  against  these  a 
determined  hostility.  To  benefit  them,  near  and 
dear  rights  are  invaded ;  and  that  awakes  and 
arms  an  opposition.  Even  thus  rampant  abolition- 
ism has  riveted  the  chain  of  the  slave,  and  freed 
none  but  by  hypocrisy  and  theft. 

Sometimes  it  is  answered,  if  you  like  not  the  pub- 
lic school,  choose  one  of  your  own.  We  will  do 
that,  when  you  restore  the  money  that  you  took 
away  by  taxes.  We  cannot  pay  two  schools.  We 
are  compelled  to  support  the  public  school  ;  and, 
therefore,  we  are  forced  to  forego  a  school  more  to 
our  taste.  We  had  a  few  shillings  with  which  we 
could  have  got  a  slice  of  venison  to  our  taste  ;  but 
you  drove  us  to  another  stall  and  made  us  buy  salt 
beef  and  pork ;  and  now,  when  we  complain  that 
this  provision  is  not  to  our  liking,  you  taunt,  and  bid 
us  go  then  and  dine  on  venison  ! 

But,  suppose  we  cannot  get  what  we  wish,  al- 
thoutjji    willing   to    pay  twice  ?     The    majority    in 


220 


CHAPTER     VI. 


many  places  will,  for  a  time  at  least,  attend  the  pub- 
lic school ;  and  that  renders  it  next  to  impossible  if 
not  wholly  so,  to  have  an  independent  school,  unless 
the  few  desirous  of  the  school  pay  three  or  four  pri- 
ces. The  tyranny  of  a  forced  public  opinion  in- 
duces very  many,  who  secretly  detest  the  public 
schools,  yet  to  send  their  children  thither.  Many 
fear  being  made  to  suffer  in  their  business,  perhaps, 
in  their  character — being  branded  with  some  odi- 
ous name,  like  that  of  aristocrat — held  up  to  ridicule 
as  wishing  to  be  superior  to  their  fellows  ;  and> 
therefore,  these  by  compulsion  sustain  the  public 
schools. 

Good  independent  teachers  by  degrees,  insensibly 
disappear  before  the  operation  of  a  legislative  school. 
They  look  for  other  employments.  Many,  go  to  the 
West  and  South,  from  which  they  will  again  de- 
part, when  the  hurricane  of  experiment  sweeps  over 
those  regions.  Others  are  starved  into  compliance 
and  become,  in  a  very  rigorous  sense,  the  servants  of 
the  public.  Meanwhile,  as  the  academy  and  the  high 
school  die  away,  the  boarding-school  system  arises 
from  their  ashes — ark  of  safety,  not  to  the  poor, 
scarcely  to  the  middle  class,  but  to  the  rich.  And  so 
this  mighty  movement  of  the  ultra-democratic  mind, 
that  expected  to  be  an  iron  roller  to  level  all  down 
into  one  republican  smoothness,  ends  with  elevating 
the  rich  still  higher,  and  creating  schools  in  which 
the  great  may  be  educated  like  nobles  and  princes. 

3.  Another  objection  to  the  public  school  system 
is,  it  must  low^er,  in  most  places,  the  standard  of  edu- 
cation, or  at  least  keep  it  from  rising.     It    is  re- 


COMMON    SCHOOLS 


2:21 


peated — primary  schools  must  exist :  but  primary 
schools  must  not  be  the  only  schools.  Two  things, 
however,  tend  to  make  primary  public  schools  fixed, 
and  to  prevent  the  existence  of  schools  beyond 
them : — 

Public  funds,  whether  by  gift  or  taxation,  are 
adequate  to  primary  schools  only ;  and  the  people 
are  sometimes  directly  and  in  express  words,  but 
oftener  indirectly  and  by  implication,  taught,  that 
education  beyond  the  essential  elements  is,  for  the 
mass,  needless. 

The  ever-reiterated  and  earnestly  impressed  ar- 
gument in  favor  of  public  schools,  is  the  cheapness. 
The  essential  branches  of  study  are  like  "  air,  sun- 
shine, running  waters ;"  and  they  must,  beside 
being  as  common,  be  made  as  cheap.  If  they  were 
dear,  or  even  at  a  reasonable  commercial  price,  the 
poetry  of  the  spouter's  figures  would  be  spoiled. 
True,  this  wondrous  cheapness  is  ostensibly  for  the 
poor ;  but  men  of  every  sort  are  exhorted  to  set  the 
poor  an  example,  and  to  place  their  children  side  by 
side  with  poor  men's  children,  and  sometimes  with 
the  mechanic'' s  children — as  if  American  artisans 
w^ere  an  inferior  race  ! — and  there  all  to  drink  in 
learning  together,  and  for  nothing  !  Hence  a  single 
teacher  is  to  impart  the  elements — not  air  and  wa- 
ter, but  the  five  elements  of  learning — to  a  whole 
village  !  But  when  these  elements  are  fairly  im- 
bibed, and  something  beyond  is  needed,  if  not  de- 
manded, more  is  not  to  be  had.  The  elements  must 
be  absorbed  again  ;  and  so  again  and  again,  if  the 
children  go  to  school  for  five  or  twice  live  years  ! 


222  CHAPTER    VI. 

Better  scfiools  would  require  better  teachers,  and 
these,  better  prices;  and  then,  free  schools,  or  public 
schools  free  in  part,  would  be  found  as  dear  as  inde- 
pendent schools.  In  many  places,  a  country  district, 
or  a  village  district,  rarely  advances  beyond  the 
five  elements — reading,  writing,  English  grammar, 
geography,  and  arithmetic.  Young  persons  taught 
in  public  schools  of  the  sort,  are  very  often  admitted 
into  academies ;  and,  although  from  nineteen  to 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  they  have  never  studied 
beyond  the  above-named  branches  ! 

In  very  large  and  rich  villages,  and  generally  in 
cities,  legislative  schools,  or  schools  not  independent 
of  public  moneys  and  taxes,  may,  for  special  rea- 
sons, consist  of  primary,  academical,  and  even  col- 
legiate departments  and  courses ;  but  this  is  never 
the  case  in  small  villages  and  country  districts. 
But  wherever  schools  are  thus  constituted,  if  they 
do  really  carry  out  their  plans,  they  must  cost  mo- 
ney— as  much  as  independent  schools,  although  the 
money  may  not  be  paid  directly  by  parents.  Teach- 
ers, such  as  are  connected  with  these  public  high 
schools,  do  not  teach  for  nothing!  They  cannot  be 
had  for  a  song  !  Their  salaries,  perhaps,  excel  the 
incomes  they  themselves  received  when  independ- 
ent teachers.  The  combined  or  concentrated  sys- 
tem of  public  schools  cannot  be  cheap.  Possibly 
such  schools  may  be  as  good  as  independent  ones, 
perhaps  better — although  this  is  by  no  means  admit- 
ted— yet  it  is  the  essence  of  oppression,  to  force  a 
minority,  directly  or  indirectly,  by  law  or  an  adroitly 
managed   public  opinion,   to  educate    children    as 


COMMON    SC'IIOOI.H.  223 

the  State  pleases,  or  a  community  of  any  size  or 
name.  The  State  does  not  own  the  citizens  !  It"  the 
education  were  in  all  places  as  it  may  be  in  some, 
an  equivalent  is  granted  for  the  invasion  ot"  rights, 
to  all  who  can  get  the  equivalent ;  but  as  the  educa- 
tion is  generally,  and  must  of  necessity  remain, 
gross  injury  is  added  to  injustice.  Many  are  forced 
to  pay  high  taxes  for  what  is  next  to  worthless, 
and,  in  no  few  cases,  pernicious. 

Not  only  is  a  grade  of  education  beyond  the  five 
elements  impossible  in  most  places,  but  the  higher 
degrees  of  education  are  disparaged.  The  lan- 
guages are  undervalued,  and  all  that  learning  be- 
longing to  mental,  and  moral,  and  political  ])hiloso- 
phies — all  that  pertains  to  taste,  or  the  belles-lettres 
in  general,  and  not  rarely  even  the  abstract  math- 
ematics. Useful  learning  is  talked  about,  in  opposi- 
tion to  other  learning  ;  and  useful  learning  is,  in  one 
way  or  another,  found  to  be  what  fits  a  boy  for  the 
retail  store,  the  counting-house,  and  other  ordinary 
modes  of  getting  a  livelihood — to  wit,  the  five  ele- 
ments !  Nay,  what  is  beyond,  is  looked  upon  with 
suspicion,  as  apt  to  nurture  pride — to  make  a  boy 
despise  his  plain  parents — making  him  unwilling  to 
work — or,  at  best,  a  mysterious  sort  of  thing,  with 
an  indefined  power  to  form  professional  men  !  Self- 
made  men  are  deemed  examples  sufficient  to  show 
that  higher  schools  are  needless  !  as  if  any  really 
self-made  man  ever  could  undervalue  the  learning 
that  makes  him  !  The  most  of  self-made  men  are 
insufferable,  for  their  amazing  self-conceit !  and  they 
evidently  need  making  over  again  !      Many,  styling 


224  riiAPTER  VI. 

themselves,  nnd  so  called  by  others,  self-made,  affect 
beholders  as  a  dancing-bear  affected  Dr.  Johnson: 
the  philosopher  was  surprised,  not  that  the  bear 
danced  well,  but  that  it  danced  at  all!  We  are  sur- 
prised, not  that  the  self-made  know  so  much  and  so 
well,  but  that  they  know  at  all !  A  few,  indeed,  of 
this  sort,  are  full  of  all  learning  and  wisdom  ;  but 
these  are  not  the  men  who  can  despise  the  higher 
schools,  and  they  must  not  be  quoted  as  persons 
whose  example  proves  the  needlessness  of  the  better 
schools. 

4.  We  object  to  the  discipline  of  public  schools, 
that  is,  of  public  schools  not  independent — schools 
actually  controlled  by  trustees,  and  directors,  ap- 
pointed by  law. 

A  teacher  is  responsible  mainly  to  the  parents. 
And  parents  can  restrain,  if  they  will,  the  violence 
of  a  bad  or  passionate  master.  They  can  also  ren- 
der the  cautious  more  watchful.  Public  opinion  and 
self-interest  are  no  small  conservatives  ;  and  the  law 
is  open  to  the  parent  or  guardian,  if  a  teacher  abuse 
a  boy,  or  be  criminally  severe.  But  very  frequently 
men,  not  even  parents  themselves,  and  very  rarely 
teachers,  and  ever  and  anon,  disciples  of  some  hum- 
drum philosopher,  who  is  illuminated  beyond  the 
revelations  of  the  Bible,  prescribe  the  rules  of  disci- 
pline in  public  schools.  They  dare  to  direct  their 
own  masters!  The  lamb  devours  the  wolf !  We 
aver,  and  without  terror,  that  some  men  who  under- 
take to  direct  many  teachers,  need  the  instruction 
and  discipline  which  those  teachers  impart  and  ad- 
minister ;  and  that,  if  such  men  had  brains  enough 


COMMON    SCHOril.S.  225 

to  see,  they  would  shrink  from  presuming  to  "  enter,'' 
where  none  but  the  sclioohnaster  "should  tread!" 

The  best  and  wisest  of  men,  parents  as  well  as 
teachers,  admit  the  occasional  and  judicious  use  of 
the  rod.  Legal  superintendents  and  educators  for- 
bid it.  Hence,  what  endless  squabbles  and  rigma- 
role, or  twattle,  about  government !  what  law  upon 
law,  and  regulation  after  regulation  !  what  mutual 
Jesuitical  watching,  and  reporting  of  reporters  ! 
And  all  can,  severally,  squeak  better  than  piggy 
himself!  But  with  due  deference  to  all  ventrilo- 
quism of  this  kind,  no  man  is  more  competent  to  de- 
termine the  character  of  disciplinary  punishment, 
than  the  teacher. 

Power  and  authority  supreme  must  reside  some- 
where ;  and  final  appeal  must  be  final.  In  the  gov- 
ernment of  a  family,  God,  and  Nature,  (the  instinc- 
tive feeling  of  the  soul,)  and  experience,  say,  this 
supremacy  resides  in  the  parent.  He  is  the  judge, 
from  whom  is  no  appeal.  It  may,  indeed,  be  pre- 
tended, perhaps  it  is  even  now  indirectly  taught^ 
tiiat  men  are  made  for  the  State,  and  not  the  State 
for  men ;  agrarianism  or  Fourierism  may  seek  to 
abolish  the  family,  and  with  it,  family  autlK»rity  and 
right ;  but  on  Bible  and  Christian  principles,  we 
must  believe  that  the  supremacy  over  children  is  in 
the  parent.  The  laws  do,  indeed,  punish  alMse  of 
authority  ;  but  the  laws  take  not  away  nor  deny  the 
authority,  and  never  interfere,  except  when  the  pa- 
rent is  deemed  theoretically  incapable  of  supreme 
government.     In  a  state  of  nature,  this  supreme  au- 


226 


CJIAI'TKR    VI. 


thority  extends  to  more  than  in  the  social  state — 
whethei-  deemed  conventional  or  divine. 

The  whole,  or  a  great  portion  of  this  supremacy, 
the  parent  voluntarily  delegates  to  the  teacher  ;  and 
every  true  teacher  ought  to  be,  and  is,  a  parent  to 
his  flock  of  intrusted  children.  A  teacher  who  ad- 
mits not  the  reality  of  this  relationship,  lacks  dis- 
cernment :  one  who  will  not  and  cannot  feel,  in 
some  degree,  its  tenderness,  is  unworthy  the  name 
of  teacher.  He  should  betake  himself  to  banking, 
or  engineering,  or  any  lawful  means  of  making  mo- 
ney and  enjoying  himself:  in  the  school-room  he  is 
out  of  character.  When  the  parental  powder  is  thus 
delegated,  the  parents  only  have  the  right  of  watch- 
ing and  supervision ;  and  they  may,  in  all  cases,  ap- 
peal to  the  law,  in  which  the  law  would  interfere 
with  themselves.  If  a  teacher  can  of  choice  submit 
to  other  watching  and  supervision  than  that  of  the 
parents,  that  teacher  is  a  coward  and  a  slave. 

In  a  healthy  state  of  the  public  mind,  the  constant 
decisions  of  judges  in  favor  of  teachers,  arraigned 
for  alleged  abuse  of  power,  and  the  nominal  pen- 
alties awarded  where  seeming  injury  had  been 
done  to  a  child,  speak  the  sense  of  law  on  this  point. 
Thousands,  too,  of  wise  parents  exclaim,  "  Sustain 
the  teacher,  right  or  wrong  !"  by  which  they  mean 
to  say,  that  extreme  caution,  forbearance,  tender- 
ness, and  allowance  must  be  exercised  and  used 
towards  teachers,  even  when  in  error  ;  that  some 
wrong  is  rather  to  be  endured,  than  that  an  author- 
ity like  the  parental  should  be  endangered,  if  not 


COMMON    SCHOOLS. 


227 


subverted.     It   is  felt  that  the   fewer  the   appeals 
from  the  teacher,  the  better. 

The  government  of  the  teacher  is  commonly  su- 
perior to  that  of  the  parent.     But  where  unusual 
severity  is  used,  the  public  can  never  judge  fairly. 
No  man  can  collect  and  concentrate  the  countless 
acts   of  disobedience,  running   through   weeks   or 
months,  and  present  the  whole  as  a  condensed  of- 
fence, and  cause  the  whole  to  appear  to  a  court  as 
it  appeared  to  the  teacher— all   aggravated   by  a 
hundred  cautions  despised,  by  rebukes  disregarded, 
by  threatenings  laughed  at,  till  open  rebellion  and 
direct  insolence  had  to  be  crushed  by  a  severe  cas- 
tigation.     Who  can  paint  the  look — the  gesture — 
the  tone — the  thousand  nameless  and   indescribable 
things  that  are  connected  with  the  boy's  manner, 
and  which  add  to  his  other  offences,  and  of  them- 
selves merit  a  sound  whipping  ?     Stripped  of  these 
circumstances  and  aggravations,  the  final  and  fin- 
ishing act  of    disobedience  which   called    for   the 
chastisement,  appears,  to  the  superficial  view,  a  ve- 
nial offence  !  and  the  man  who  severely  chastised 
for  that  offence,  a  monster  of  cruelty  and  revenge  ! 
Often  it  is  said,  let  the  parent  scourge  the  boy. 
But  what  if  there  be  no  parent  able  to  do  it?     Few 
women  or  mothers  can  properly  whip  a  large  boy. 
Or  what  if  the  parent  will  not  do  his  duty  ?     Is  the 
boy  to  be  turned    out   of  the   school    into   society, 
triumphant  in  wickedness  and  rebellion  ?     Is  this  the 
wisdojn  of  the  popular  lecturer,  ever  blating  about 
the  vices    of  society,  and  the  ounce  of  prevention 
better  than  the  pound  of  cure  ?     Dare   these  bab- 


228 


CHAPTER    VI. 


biers  sneer  at  prisons  and  scaffolds — marks  of  a 
barbarous  age  !  Shall  they  pretend  to  set  up  for 
lights  ! 

Some  silly  people  have  said,  "  We  had  rather  our 
children  should  die,  than  be  whipped."  This  insane 
wish  shall  be  gratified  ;  but  the  teacher  will  not  be- 
come the  executioner.  Let  the  hangman  do  his 
office  when  the  time  comes  :  the  teacher  will  try  to 
prevent  that  catastrophe.  If  tears  flow  not  now, 
blood  will  hereafter^  They  who,  on  every  slight 
provocation  and  pretext,  are  planting  knives  in  each 
other's  bosoms,  and  shooting  down  their  comrades 
in  the  streets  of  the  cities,  are  not  the  persons  who 
were  properly  disciplined  at  school.  The  sons  of 
the  pilgrims  may  deem  themselves  wiser  than  their 
fathers  ;  but  the  alarming  degeneracy  of  morals 
speaks  little  in  favor  of  undisciplined  children.  The 
wholesome  rod  of  a  stern  morality  prevents  the  jail 
and  the- gibbet :  he  that  banishes  the  rod,  builds  the 
prisoner's  cell,  and  holds  out  a  rope  to  the  hang- 
man. 

5.  A  fatal  objection  to  most  public  schools  not  in- 
dependent of  State  patronage,  is  on  the  score  of  re- 
ligion. 

The  writer  agrees  with  those  who  deem  it  uncon- 
stitutional and  impolitic  to  provide,  by  law,  for  re- 
ligious observances  in  public  schools.  No  legislation 
on  this  point  can  be  definite,  that  shall  not  prefer  one 
sect  or  party  to  another.  The  only  thing  law  can 
do,  is  to  let  schools  alone,  and  not  to  forbid  religious 
observances.  But  if,  under  pretext  of  impartiality, 
all  forms  and  observances  of  religion  are  forbidden, 


COMMON    SCHOOLS. 


229 


partiality  is  yet  not  avoided ;  because  some  sects  of 
religionists,  and  all  sects  of  irreligionists,  believe 
that  religion  should  be  proscribed  in  schools  ;  and 
such,  therefore,  are  specially  favored  and  their  cause 
promoted  by  this  very  prohibition.  Hence  religious 
men  are  taxed  for  the  advantage  of  heresy  and  irre- 
ligion.  They  are  made  to  support  systems  adverse 
even  to  civil  liberty. 

Whether  the  Bible  should  be  read  as  a  class  book 
in  schools,  the  author  does  not  conceive  to  be  a  point 
of  vital  importance.  Many  good  and  wise  men,  cor- 
dial lovers  of  the  Bible,  who  have  unlimited  control 
over  their  schools,  do  not  use  the  Bible  as  a  mere 
class  or  reading  book.  Some  important  objections 
may  be  urged  against  that  use  of  the  Bible.  As  a 
viere  reading  book,  it  has  no  great  advantage  either 
intellectually  or  morally.  The  book  may  even  be 
desecrated  by  this  use.  It  cannot  operate  as  a 
charm.  The  use  of  the  Bible  in  schools  is  not  "as 
a  classic,"  but  for  nobler  purposes — even  religious 
and  devotional.  It  should  be  a  part  of  the  worship, 
in  the  school  as  in  the  family.  The  master  himself 
should  read  it,  as  the  father  of  his  flock ;  or  if  the 
pupils  read,  they  should  read  soberly  and  devoutly. 
The  reading  should  never  be  as  a  task  or  an  exer- 
cise. The  Bible  has  a  grander  use  than  as  a  school- 
book.  Children  may,  indeed,  store  their  memory 
with  passages  of  the  Bible,  but  always  as  a  part  of 
religion,  as  they  learn  hymns,  prayers,  catechisms. 

But  here  is  the  vital  point :  shall  the  religion  of 
the  Bible,  the  principles  of  the  Bible,  be  acknowl- 
edged in  scbpoU  ^      Shall  the  divine  authority  be 
II 


230  CFIAPTER    VI. 

brought  to  bear  directly,  and  in  all  their  studies  and 
conduct, universally  upon  the  pupils?  If  by  legisla- 
tive enactment,  or  tlie  force  of  public  opinion,  a 
master  may  not,  if  he  wished,  and  does  not,  because 
he  is  irreligious,  when  he  might,  use  the  Bible  as  a 
part  of  worship ;  if  he  for  that  purpose  read  not 
himself,  nor  cause  his  flock  of  pupils  to  read  ;  if  he 
may  not  refer  to  its  authority,  and  draw  from  it 
solemn  rebuke  and  warning,  and  matter  to  incite 
to  a  wholesome  emulation,  his  school  has  no  religion 
worth  the  name.  Its  existence  cannot  be  favorable 
to  virtue  or  to  the  State.  It  may  he  fatal  to  the 
children's  best  interests.  When  a  school  of.^his  sort 
breaks  up,  and  is  dispersed,  that  event  is  no  evil.  If, 
therefore,  all  State  schools,  Mi'here  religion  is  pro- 
scribed, are  abandoned,  it  would  call  for  rejoicing 
and  not  lamentation.  It  follows  not,  that  no  schools 
would  exist ;  but  time  will  show,  provided  all  reli- 
gion in  public  schools  be  forbidden  or  despised,  and 
this  system  be  universal,  that  an  entire  destitution 
of  schools  cannot  be  more  disastrous,  than  schools 
in  which  the  authority  of  the  Bible  is  not  acknowl- 
edged and  enforced. 

The  State,  or  a  combination  of  political  parties 
for  the  purpose  of  general  education,  may  not  be 
blame-worthy,  if  they  order  no  special  form  of  reli- 
gion in  schools  ;  yet,  not  a  few  pretending  a  fear  of 
union  between  the  Church  and  the  State,  wish,  nay, 
are  possibly  endeavoring,  by  means  of  the  present  ris- 
ing generation,  to  banish  religion,  first,  from  educa- 
tion, and  then,  from  the  State.  The  disastrous  con- 
sequences of  a  school  system  without  religion  can- 


COMMON    SCHOOLS: 


231 


not  be  felt  immediately.  The  enemy  does  not  wish 
them  to  be  felt.  A  community  not  yet  wholly  irre- 
ligious, if  alarmed,  would  take  measures  to  prevent 
the  evils.  Long  is  it  before  the  influence  of  original 
impulse  ceases.  If  a  person  be  within  what  moves 
less  and  less  swiftly  by  an  equable  decrease,  he  is 
not  sensible  that  the  motive  power  is  withdrawn,  or 
ceases  to  act,  till  there  is  a  stop.  Indeed,  in  case  the 
man  is  asleep,  he  will  not  know  he  has  stopped  till 
he  be  awaked.  The  author  has  been  in  a  car,  from 
which  the  locomotive,  in  full  flight,  became  accident- 
ally detached  ;  but,  engaged  in  conversation,  it  was 
long  before  the  thing  was  noticed  :  all  seemed 
tending  onward  happily  as  before.  In  this  commu- 
nity, in  most  places,  the  mass  of  society  is  under  the 
propulsion  of  an  hereditary  religion,  whose  force  was 
inherent  in  by-gone  institutions  and  practices.  But 
men  not  asleep  or  wilfully  blind,  who  choose  to  look 
at  external  objects,  discern  plainly  enough  that  the 
great  machine  of  our  civil  society  is  slacking 
speed  ;  or  if  it  moves  rapidly,  it  is  oft'  the  track  ! 
Some  are  destined  to  wake  up  with  a  shock  !  Others 
will  find,  like  Horace  and  his  comrades  in  the  Brun- 
dusian  journey,  that  the  villainous  muleteer  has 
tied  the  mule ;  and  that,  during  the  night  of  ease 
and  security,  they  have  advanced  not  a  jot ! 

Is  there  not  a  visible,  confessed,  and  sad  deterio- 
ration in  the  morals  and  manners  of  the  young?  Is 
there  not  a  woful  and  wide-spread  disregard  of  j)a- 
rental,  and,  by  consequence,  of  all  other  rightful  au- 
thority ?  And  is  not  resistance  to  authority  usually 
continued,  in  one  form  or  another,  till   an  unhappy 


232  CHAPTEK   VI. 

victory  Is  obtained  ?  The  school-book  itself  is  ex- 
purgated, not  of  licentiousness,  but  of  religion;  not 
of  falsehood,  but  of  historical  fact !  History,  that 
tells  all,  may  not  speak  in  some  public  schools ;  and 
morals  rest,  not  on  the  will  of  God,  but  on  utility  and 
honor  !  Herod  and  Pilate  come  together,  shake 
hands,  and  embrace  even  now  !  A  narrow  inspec- 
tion of  some  public  school  libraries  would  discover 
licentiousness  and  infidelity  !  Many  will  cease  their 
mutual  "  bitings  and  devourings,"  if  they  can  all  em- 
ploy their  teeth  on  the  common  foe  ! 

6.  The  abstract  principle  in  our  polity,  that  the 
majority  rules,  is  not  disputed.  Notwithstanding  its 
many  and  manifest  abuses,  and  repeated  acts  of  tyr- 
anny, notwithstanding  the  adroit  movements  of  a 
deep  intrigue,  by  which  a  bare  majority,  from  the 
dregs  and  scum  of  domestic  and  foreign  voices,  may 
be  bought  and  drugged  for  dishonest  purposes,  we 
must  hold  to  our  country  in  this  respect,  "  right  or 
wrong  ;"  for  the  opposite  doctrine  is  fraught  with 
tenfold  evils.  But  there  are  things  of  which  a  ma- 
jority should  be  ashamed  ;  there  are  things  a  major- 
ity should  scorn  to  do.  Among  these  is  taxing  the 
people  for  the  education  of  the  mass. 

Preposterous  is  it  to  say,  the  tax  is  for  the  advan- 
tage of  the  poor.  The  truly  poor  are  not  bene- 
fited ;  and  they  can  easily  be  educated  without  com- 
pelling all  to  be  educated  with  them,  and  educated 
better.  Equally  preposterous  to  say,  that  the  good 
of  the  State  requires  this  taxation ;  for  we  have 
shown  that  the  system  of  education  is  fraught  wath 
evil.     Besides,  on  this  plea,  the  State  is  bound  to 


COMMON   SCHOOLS. 


233 


support  churches  and  the  ministers  of  reUgion  :  in- 
deed, the  support  of  these  would  benefit  the  com- 
munity vastly  more  than  the  support  of  any  system 
of  education.  Knowledge  cannot  preserve  the 
State  ;  religion  can. 

A  very  large  class  of  citizens,  the  best  members 
of  society,  called  often,  for  want  of  a  more  appro- 
priate term,  the  middle  class,  is  specially  oppressed  by 
this  tax.  These  cannot  support  free  schools  and  yet 
pay  independent  schools,  in  which  their  children  can 
obtain  an  education  worthy  the  name — in  which, 
too,  the  children  can  be  kept  in  the  fear  of  God. 
These  persons  have  not  commonly  money  to  loan  ; 
but  they  are  forced  to  invest  all  they  possess  in 
property,  visible  and  tangible,  and  therefore  taxable. 
They  cannot  put  their  property  in  bank  stock,  or  in 
stocks  of  any  sort.  The  rich,  however,  can  do  all 
this,  and  many  other  things,  to  avoid  assessment  ; 
and  then  send  away  their  children  to  the  boarding- 
schools.  Thousands  of  persons,  too,  have  a  fair 
income  from  their  labor,  who  yet  have  no  visible 
and  taxable  property  of  any  kind  ;  and  these,  with- 
out a  scruple  or  a  twinge  of  conscience,  avail  them- 
selves of  what  are  termed  free  schools !  How 
many  are  even  willing  to  be  deemed  poor  to  avail 
themselves  of  other  men's  industry  to  educate  their 
children  ! 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  that  honest  men,  after 
having  honorably  schooled  their  children,  should  be 
indignant  when  compelled  by  a  majority  to  educate 
their  neighbors'  children  ;  and  that  majority,  not 
infrequently,  a   majority   without   house    or  lands  ! 


234 


rUAPTER    VI. 


The  effect  of  all  tliis  is  an  Asiatic  despotism,  which 
forces  men  to  conceal  their  property,  lest  it  should 
be  legally  stolen  by  rapacious  and  dishonest  citizens. 
The  author  has  been  told,  that  in  some  districts, 
farmers  from  the  country,  and  persons  from  other 
districts,  and  even  from  Canada,  move  into  a  village 
in  the  winter  season,  to  have  the  benefit  of  a  free 
school  at  the  expense  of  that  village  ! 

Has  a  bare  majority  a  right  to  do  this  ? — and  es- 
pecially a  majorily  coaxed  and  misled  ?  Is  not  this 
a  mere  trick  ?  Summum  jus,  summa  injuria,  may 
here  be  translated,  the  majority  is  oftentimes  grossly 
unjust  ! 

These  are  some  of  our  main  objections  to  free 
schools,  supported  by  the  State,  or  by  taxation — by 
any  system,  in  short,  that  is  adverse  to  the  independ- 
ence of  schools  and  teachers. 

Is  it  asked,  how,  then,  shall  schools  be  supported  ? 
Our  answer  is,  schools  will  take  care  of  themselves. 
All  who  wish  education  for  their  children,  will  pro- 
vide schools  for  themselves.  If  they  have  the 
means,  and  will  not  pay  honestly  and  equivalently 
for  schooling,  let  them  go  without  schooling.  If 
any  will  not  work,  fhey  should  starve  ;  if  any  beg 
from  door  to  door,  and  yet  have  money,  they  de- 
serve the  punishment  of  swindlers. 

But  what  shall  they  do  who  have  no  money  and 
cannot  work  ?  Shall  these  starve  ?  By  no  means  ; 
for  these  exists  the  poor-house.  Let  these  be  sup- 
ported. 

The  number  of  persons  wholly  incapable  of  pay- 
ing a  fair  price  for  elementary  branches  in  education 


COMMON  scnooi,s.  235 

is  less  than  is  presumed.  And  all  able  to  pay  that 
price,  ought  to  be  ashamed  to  receive  assistance. 
For  what  else  should  efibrt  and  sacrifices  be  made, 
if  not  for  education  ?  And  will  not  that  which  costs 
us  something,  be,  for  that  very  reason,  the  more 
valued  ?  Hundreds  of  people  find  money  enough  for 
trade,  for  houses,  lands,  furniture,  dress,  amusements, 
refreshments,  luxuries,  who,  at  the  bare  mention  of 
a  tuition  fee,  begin  a  whine  about  hard  times  !  If  we 
wish  to  see  long  and  melancholy  faces,  call  for  pew- 
rents,  physicians'  bills,  or  school-moneys !  Nay, 
such  calls  are,  not  rarely,  resented  as  impertinent ; 
and  the  collector  is  often  treated  as  if  he  were  akin 
to  a  swindler  ! 

Truly  poor  persons,  however,  are  found  ;  and 
these  are  more  or  less  unable  to  educate  their  chil- 
dren. Some  such  cannot  aflbrd  to  buy  necessary 
school-books ;  others,  not  even  decent  apparel- 
These  are  the  proper  objects  of  charity  and  gen- 
erosity. How  shall  such  poor  be  educated  ?  By 
taxation?  Certainly.  Let  us,  however,  be  well 
satisfied  that  the  poor,  and  the  poor  only,  are  bene- 
fited by  the  taxes.  Thousands  are  loud  and  vehe- 
ment in  behalf  of  starving  Ireland,  who  intend  to 
speculate  in  breadstulls  !  And  ten  thousands  bawl 
out  for  educating  the  poor,  who  intend  to  divert  the 
money  to  their  own  children. 

But  when  aid  is  extended  to  the  poor,  is  it  not 
possible  that  their  children  be  educated  in  the  best 
independent  schools,  and  on  an  honorable  equality 
with  all  other  children  ?  Why  should  inferior 
schools  exist  for  the  jmor,  or  an  inferior  grade  of 


236  CIlAPTKR  VI 

education  ?  Schemes  may  be  devised,  if  the  people 
are  really  in  earnest,  by  wiiich  all  visible  distinctions 
between  rich  and  poor  may  disappear  in  schools, 
except  what  may  arise  from  dress  ;  and  teachers 
may  find  it  to  their  interest  to  treat  all  alike.  Schools 
need  not  be  levelled  down  to  meet  the  wants  of  the 
poor  ;  nor  need  the  poor  be  made  to  feel  every  hour 
their  inferiority.  A  slave  cannot  be  treated  among 
freemen  as  a  freeman ;  he  must  be  first  set  at 
liberty. 

Among  schemes  for  this  purpose,  we  venture  to 
propose  a  very  simple  one  ;  not  with  entire  confi- 
dence in  its  perfection,  but  as  a  scheme  that  is  prac- 
ticable. It  may  also  furnish  a  hint  for  something 
better. 

In  every  district  or  village,  let  a  Board  of  Edu- 
cation be  elected  by  the  people,  or  appointed  by  the 
Legislature.  This  Board  should  be  composed  of 
responsible  and  influential  persons,  willing  them- 
selves to  educate  their  own  children,  and  at  their 
own  expense.  The  members  should  not  be  office- 
holders, nor  in  any  way  entitled  to  an  election  to 
the  Board  because  of  political  views  or  principles. 
No  overseer  of  the  poor  should  be  a  member.  The 
expenses  of  the  Board  or  its  officers  should  be  paid  ; 
but  no  emolument  or  salary  of  any  kind  should  per- 
tain to  the  Board,  or  any  member  of  the  Board. 

Into  the  treasury  of  this  Board  should  be  paid  all 
moneys  bestowed  by  the  Legislature,  or  raised  by 
taxation,  for  the  education  of  the  poor.  Twice  at 
least  every  year,  a  minute  and  accurate  statement 
should  be  published  in  the  newspapers  of  the  dis- 


COMMON    SCHOOLS!  237 

trict,  and  also,  if  necessary,  should  be  otherwise 
printed  and  circulated  for  the  public  information,  of 
appropriations  and  expenses,  and  all  matters  deemed 
suitable  for  publication.  Or  the  books  might  be 
open  at  certain  offices  for  any  person's  inspection, 
every  quarter. 

The  main  duty  of  the  Board  would  be  to  deter- 
mine what  children,  either  in  whole  or  in  part, 
required  aid ;  and  then  such  children,  as  far  as  the 
funds  allowed,  should  all  be  sent  to  the  existing 
schools  of  the  district,  and  at  the  regular  school  pri- 
ces. The  teacher  would  thus  feel  as  deep  a  pecuni- 
ary interest  in  the  poor  as  in  the  rich  boy  ;  and  the 
poor  boy  would  claim  the  full  benefits  of  the 
school. 

The  Board  could  easily  know  at  once,  from  their 
intimate  acquaintance  with  the  district,  who  would 
be  entitled  to  aid  ;  but  they  w^ould  be  empowered,  if 
necessary,  to  put  certain  legal  incpiiries,  prepared 
under  the  authority  of  the  legislature  ;  and  thus,  they 
could  ascertain  the  truth  in  all  cases.  If,  beyond  the 
payment  of  the  school  bills,  additional  assistance 
were  necessary,  school-books,  and  in  some  cases 
clothes,  could  be  furnished.  In  this  way  the  poor 
children  would  have  the  best  schools,  the  best  teach- 
ers, the  best  books. 

Sometimes  it  is  said,  the  poor  will  never  consent 
to  be  educated  witliout  the  rich  will  go  with  them. 
This  is  simply — -false.  But  if  it  ever  is  the  case,  the 
remark  applies  only  when  a  school  system  is  made 
exclusively  or  mainly  for  the  poor,  and  where  all 
who  go  to  a  certain  school  arc  deemed  to  be  poor.  If 
1  1* 


238  CIlAl'TEll     VI. 

the  school  be  branded  with  a  bad  name,  of  course  the 
poor,  having  the  same  nature  and  generous  senti- 
ments as  other  people,  will  be  more  or  less  delicate 
in  going  alone  to  that  school.  In  the  way  now  pro- 
posed, or  any  similar  and  belter  way,  the  poor  are 
not  known  ;  and  instead  of  being  the  innocent  cause 
or  occasion  of  dragging  down  any  unwilling  persons, 
they  are  themselves  placed  for  the  time  being  on  a 
par  with  their  townsmen. 

The  truly  poor  do  not  refuse  aid  in  building  a 
house,  unless  we  consent  to  build  in  the  same  style  ; 
nor  to  take  a  deck  passage,  unless  others  desert  the 
cabin.  Nor  do  the  truly  poor  refuse  an  education 
when  offered  them,  although  the  rich  may  refuse 
to  be  educated  with  them.  This  and  many  other 
weak  objections  arise  from  the  miserly,  the  hypo- 
critical, the  dishonest — persons  who  wish  to  make 
charity-schools  popular  and  fashionable,  for  their 
own  selfish  purposes. 

It  may,  indeed,  be  necessary,  in  certain  places,  to 
have  primary  schools  at  inferior  prices.  Yet  if  all 
religious  sects  would  do  as  some,  parochial  schools 
would  be  connected  with  every  important  congrega- 
tion ;  and  the  congregational  poor  would  there  be 
religiously  and  intellectually  educated.  If  the  State 
assisted  such  schools,  it  would  be  praise-worthy. 
The  poor,  however,  not  connected  with  religious 
bodies,  could  all  be  in  some  degree  educated  by  the 
Board  of  Education,  and,  without  visible  distinc- 
tions, in  the  best  schools  of  the  village  or  district. 
Inducements,  too,  could  be  held  out  to  extraordinary 
diligence  or  excellence,  in  the  prospect  of  aneduca- 


COMMU.N    SClUtOl,.-:. 


239 


tion  beyond  thatof  the  primary  school.  For  certain 
attainments,  or  industry,  or  morals,  the  Board  might 
carry  from  one  to  twenty,  through  an  academical 
course,  and  from  one  to  five  through  a  college 
course. 

Of  those  carried  tiu-ough  the  superior  courses  of 
study,  many  would  voluntarily,  when  able,  refund  to 
the  Board  of  Education  the  amount  advanced  for 
their  education ;  although  no  obligation,  written  or 
implied,  should  be  demanded  or  expected.  The 
whole  should  remain  a  matter  of  conscience  and 
honor.  And  yet,  if  any,  with  the  consent,  and  by 
the  advice  of  the  parents,  preferred  borrowing  and 
giving  a  note,  payable  in  a  given  time  and  without 
interest,  that  would  be  admissible. 

After  all,  here  and  there  might  be  Ibund  a  district 
without  any  good  independent  school,  and  where 
the  great  majority  of  the  inhabitants  might  possibly 
be  unable  to  pay  anything  for  primary  branches. 
There  let  the  Board  of  Education  establish  a  primary 
school.  Let  them  invite  a  good  teacher,  and  pay 
him  a  suitable  price  for  every  scholar  sent ;  and 
rigorously  com[)el  any  other  than  a  poor  citizen, 
according  to  his  ability,  to  j)ay  the  whole  or  a  ])art 
of  the  regular  fee.  But  let  the  school  itself  and  the 
teacher  be  independent.  A  teacher  should  not  be 
asked  to  take  less,  simply  because  his  pupils  are  sent 
by  the  State  or  the  district.  Teachers  are,  perha|)s, 
as  liberal  and  generous  as  other  men.  Many  distin- 
guished men  owe  themselves  to  benevolent  teachers. 
To  concentrate  and  hiy  on  the  teacher  the  aggregate 
binden  of  chenp  or  gratuitous  education  in  any  com- 


240  CHAPTER    VI. 

munity,  is  the  quintessence  of  a  covetous  and  mi- 
serly meanness.  The  monuments  improperly  raised 
to  the  memory  of  men  who  devised  plans  of  educa- 
tion for  the  poor,  and  gave  nothing,  should  oftener 
be  erected  in  memory  of  the  laborious  teacher  who 
executed  the  plan !  Alas  !  how  very  many,  with 
large  farms,  large  stores,  large  means  of  every  kind, 
are  mean  enough  to  din  a  teacher's  ears  with  admo- 
nitions and  hints  that  they  should  charge  less  for  the 
poor  !  Did  it  never  occur  to  such  benevolent  friends 
of  the  poor,  who  wished  to  serve  a  neighbor  at  a 
neighbor's  expense,  and  to  obtain  a  reputation  for 
charity  never  bestowed,  that  they  themselves  ought 
to  make  up  the  deficiency  in  the  poor  man's  quarter 
bill  ? 

The  Board  of  Education  would  not,  indeed,  have 
always  a  pleasant  task.  In  civil  polity,  however,  as 
in  theology,  it  is  equally  true,  •'  He  that  would  be 
chief  among  his  brethren,  must  become  their  ser- 
vant." Members  of  any  society,  civil  or  ecclesias- 
tical, and,  particularly,  prominent  members,  must 
bear,  and  w'illingly  bear,  evils.  They  must  be  stung 
by  the  reproaches  of  envy,  fraud,  knavery,  selfish- 
ness. This  Board  would  be  bitterly  opposed  by  the 
hypocritically  poor,  and  the  base  among  the  rich. 
All  endeavoring  to  obtain  something  for  nothing, 
and  yet  ashamed  to  be  seen  taking  it  alone,  and, 
therefore,  striving  to  skulk  towards  the  object  in  a 
crowd — all  these,  and  their  kinsfolk,  would  be  chief 
maligners  and  misrepresenters.  All  demagogues  in 
want  of  political  capital,  and  all  common-place 
spouters  of  educational  lectures,  would  open  their 


COMMON    SCHOOLS.  241 

foul  moutlis.  The  age  of  rigmarole  would  be  pass- 
ing !  The  poor,  dear  people  would  have  been  al- 
ready accommodated  !     An  occupation  is  gone  ! 

The  Legislature,  it  has  been  said,  may,  beyond  the 
moneys  given  to  aid  the  education  of  the  poor, 
donate  to  schools.  Perhaps  schools,  colleges,  acad- 
emies, may  be  required  to  possess  certain  property, 
and  have  a  certain  number  of  pupils,  or  to  have 
and  do  anything  not  affecting  their  independency 
and  integrity  ;  but  no  interference  with  their  reli- 
gious or  literary  character  should  be  attempted. 
The  grant  should  not  be  accompanied  with  an  offen- 
sive dictation.  Grants  also  may  be  made  to 
churches ;  but  such  should  be  simple  and  honest 
gifts.  Nothing  may  be  asked  or  expected  in  return, 
except  that  the  several  sects  should  behave  them- 
selves better  than  ever,  and  more  earnestly  strive  to 
benefit  the  State  by  maintaining  a  burning  and  shin- 
ing light  in  the  midst.  The  donations  should,  in  all 
cases,  be  a  reward,  and  not  a  bribe  or  a  temptation. 
Let  the  Legislature  be  a  father  and  not  a  lord.  If  the 
State  cannot  give  moneys  in  this  spirit,  let  the  State 
keep  its  money,  tor  internal  improvements,  or  office- 
holders and  office-seekers. 

Moneys  may  be  given  to  schools  in  various  ways. 
The  common  ways  are  to  aid  in  erecting  buildings, 
or  in  buying  libraries  and  apparatus.  But  money, 
for  certain  excellencies,  might,  over  and  above  the 
tuition  fees,  be  given  directly  to  teachers  ;  even  as 
prize  money  to  officers  and  seamen.  In  such  cases 
the  teacher  ought  not  to  he  required  to  lessen  the 
ordinary  tuition  fees:  because,  under  one  jnetext  or 


242  tllAl'lKR    VI. 

another,  teachers  who  are  beguiled  into  cheapness 
by  grants  of  money,  are  apt,  at  last,  to  lose  the 
grant ;  and  then  the  district,  being  accustomed  to  a 
low  rate  of  quarter-bills,  will  not  pay  a  higher. 
Patriots  will  arise  who  will  take  away  grants  made 
by  former  legislatures  ;  and  that,  whether  it  ruin 
teachers  and  trustees  or  not.  Teachers  often  find, 
that  gifts  from  the  people,  in  any  way,  are  like  the 
gifts  of  Asiatic  princes — they  call  for  a  larger 
gift  in  return.  Upon  the  whole,  if  the  State  will 
provide  for  the  truly  poor,  and  provide  that  none  but 
the  truly  poor  receive  that  aid;  if  they  will  pay 
teachers  for  educating  those  truly  poor  ;  and,  then, 
if  they  will  let  the  schools  alone,  from  the  college  to 
the  primary  school,  teachers  ask  no  more,  no  less. 
If  they  reoeive  a  reward — well  ;  if  they  receive  it 
not — better  !  Teachers  are  not  beggars,  nor  pen- 
sioners. All  they  ask  is  to  be  let  alone.  If  the  State 
will  mind  its  business,  we  shall  mind  ours  ;  and  in 
this  way,  both  will  be  most  benefited.  The  author  has 
seen  several  good  independent  schools  wholly  ruined 
by  State  interference,  and  nothing  but  the  most  con- 
temptible schools  established  in  their  room.  State 
or  non-independent  schools  cannot,  in  a  fair  field, 
compete  with  private  schools. 

The  remarks,  thus  far,  have  had  particular  refer- 
ence to  no  one  State  in  the  Union.  The  remainder 
of  this  chapter  relates  to  the  academies  under  the 
supervision  of  the  Regents  of  the  University  of  New- 
York. 

The  appropriation  of  moneys  from  the  Literary 
and  Deposit  funds.  1o  the  academies,  arose  from  tlie 


COMMON    SCHOOLS. 


243 


most  philanthropic  feehngs.  Statesmen,  too,  of  great 
learning,  and  ardent  and  honest  lovers  of  their  coun- 
try, originated  and  advocated  these  appropriations  ; 
while  the  Regents  themselves  have  always,  with  the 
most  laborious  diligence  and  scrupulous  honor,  en- 
deavored to  carry  out  the  intention  of  the  laws  orig- 
inally and  from  time  to  time  enacted  in  regard  to  the 
distribution  of  the  gifts.  But  a  fundamental  error  in 
the  whole  scheme  lies  in  an  interference  with  the 
plan  and  mode  of  studies  whenever  an  academy 
wishes  to  partake  in  the  liberality  of  the  State.  It  is 
not,  indeed,  said  that  there  is  ever  any  direct  inter- 
ference, unless  the  somewhat  self-complacent  direc- 
tions of  Secretaries  or  other  officers  of  the  Board, 
contained  in  the  annual  or  periodical  pamphlet  sent 
to  the  academies,  may  be  deemed  such  ;  but  it  is 
said,  that  tiie  practical  workings  of  a  system,  where 
the  right  to  a  part  of  the  appropriation  is  based  on 
certain  branches  studied,  (the  higher  English 
branches,  and  certain  Latin  books,)  the  workings  of 
that  system,  wherever  regarded,  is  an  interference, 
and  an  evil  interference,  with  the  proper  independ- 
ence, and,  therefore,  excellence  of  the  schools. 

Waive,  for  the  present,  a  very  important  fact,  that 
the  whole  plan  and  all  its  original  laws,  were  framed 
when  books,  systems,  everything  in  education,  were 
widely  different  from  what  these  all  are  now  ;  and 
suppose  that  all  these  remain  in  every  respect  as 
when  the  plan  and  the  laws  and  directions  first  arose  ; 
still  the  evil  results  are  many. 

1.  Teachers  are  compelled  to  shape  the  whole 
system  of  education  so  that  it  may  comprise  certain 


244  CHAPTKR    VI. 

Studies  recommended,  or  ordered  by  law  ;  and  in 
that  scheme  they  are  induced  to  embrace  all  they 
can  among  the  pupils,  who  are  over  a  certain  age. 
Occasionally  the  resulting  system  may  be  the  sys- 
tem itself  which  would  have  been  adopted  of  choice, 
had  the  master  been  free  from  any  lure  or  tempta- 
tion in  the  shape  of  patronage  and  gift ;  but  not  in- 
frequently the  course  enjoined  or  fixed,  is  materially 
diiferent  from  his  approved  course,  and  even  some- 
times opposite  to  that  course.  And  when  the  forced 
system  is  accidentally  right,  the  teacher  feels  joy  at 
the  good  luck,  but  not  gratification  that  the  excel- 
lence resulted  from  his  art  and  contrivance.  No 
room,  however,  is  left  the  teacher  for  such  experi- 
ments as  must  be  made  by  the  best  masters :  the  four 
months  are  evanishing,  and  the  money  may  be  lost, 
if  the  boy  to  be  reported  is  not  immediately  stretched 
and  fitted  to  the  bed-stead.  The  boy  would,  in  many 
cases,  be  more  benefited  by  a  wide  departure  from 
the  prescribed  plan  ;  but,  although  this  may  be  the 
case,  and  the  teacher  have,  by  pursuing  a  better  plan, 
much  more  labor,  he  cannot  legally  draw  the  money 
in  the  supposed  case,  unless  he  report  books,  pages, 
and  a  nominal  progress  !  He  hazards,  at  least,  the 
gift  or  premium ;  and  that  he  can  rarely  afford  to 
lose.  His  rent  depends  on  the  somewhat  rigorous 
adherence  to  the  letter  of  his  instructions.  The  law 
will  not  allow  the  Regents  to  believe  the  teacher, 
even  on  oath,  unless  he  measure  the  boy's  progress 
by  lines  and  pages !  And  yet  it  may  be  but  a  seem- 
ing progress.  The  pupil  could  have  been  improved 
bv  inferior  studies  :  but  he  had    ffone  over,  as    "??» 


COMMON    SCUOOLd.  245 

the  common  schools"  certain  preliminary  matters — 
had  learned  that  a  big  sione  was  as  large  as  a  lump 
of  chalk — and  now,  being  some  eighteen  years  of 
age,  he  is  set  at  studies  technically  superior,  (for 
which,  however,  he  is  in  reality  altogether  unpre- 
pared,) that  his  name  may  not  be  struck  from  the 
report ! 

2.  While  many  boys  are  forced  into  advanced  stu- 
dies before  suitable  preparation,  a  still  larger  num- 
ber is  compelled  to  study  things  next  to  useless,  or 
at  least  things  that  may  with  safety  be  omitted. 
Young  men  who  have  only  a  few  months  in  the 
year  to  attend  school,  and  are  yet  seriously  deficient 
in  branches  of  study  carelessly  gone  over  in  boy- 
hood, are  forced  or  persuaded  to  study,  for  instance, 
History — a  matter  which  any  young  man,  with  an 
ordinary  amount  of  common  brain,  can  read  at 
home — being  thus  prevented,  in  a  manner,  from 
duly  attending  to  what  are  called  the  inferior  stu- 
dies, but  to  him  worth  all  the  histories  ever  written* 
real  or  imaginary.  And  why  is  this  ?  Because  his- 
tory is  one  of  the  studies  denominated  '^higher!"' 
a  study  which  must  be  reported  in  order  to  obtain  a 
premium  !  The  industry,  the  improvement,  the  ad- 
vantage, the  labor,  the  time,  are  all  unavailing  with- 
out this  legal  and  prescribed  branch  !  However 
negligent  the  pupil  may  have  been  in  all  other  re- 
spects, if  he  have  gone  over  some  thirty  or  forty 
pages  of  any  history,  he  helps  to  pay  the  master's 
rent  or  stockholders'  dividends.  Mere  children, 
about  the  age  of  ten  years,  are  made  to  study  (?) 
infant  physiologies — infant  histories — infant  chemis- 


246  CHAPTER   VI. 

try — and  twenty  bubyisli  higher  branches,  all  for 
the  same  purpose.  Every  boy,  in  fact,  that  enters 
the  school,  is  contemplated  in  the  light  of  an  instru- 
ment to  pay  rent,  or  dividends ;  and  so  he  is  man- 
aged with  one  eye  to  his  own  advantage  and  another 
to  that  of  the  teacher  or  the  trustees. 

3.  Constant  iteration  of  elementary  studies  has 
been  shown  hurtful  to  the  mind,  and  prejudicial  to 
the  character  of  schools.  Evilsof  great  magnitude 
result,  also,  if  a  boy  be  forced  to  re-study  the  higher 
branches  after  a  fair  drilling  in  them  once  or  twice. 
A  scholar  already  formed,  a  literary  man,  may  with 
increased  advantage  review  and  re-review  old 
studies  ;  but  school-boys  never  improve 'after  the 
freshness  is  wholly  departed — novelty  is  an  essen- 
tial ingredient  in  their  studies.  An  old  study  must 
be  dis-placed  by  a  new  one ;  or  the  old  must  have 
in  itself  an  endless  variety  in  its  praxis  and  applica- 
tions. But  some  things  called  studies  are  soon  ex- 
hausted. Among  these  may  be  classed  the  smaller 
systems  of  botany,  physiology,  chemistry,  anatomy, 
and  the  smaller  babyized  histories.  These  abound 
in  many  academies,  or  in  some  ;  and  as  parents  are 
often  slow  to  procure  new  books  in  these  subjects, 
children,  and  even  young  men,  are  carried  regularly 
once  a  year  over  the  same  thrice-beaten  way  !  The 
teacher  is  weary  of  all  these  ;  his  soul  loathes  the 
very  sight  of  the  dog-eared  pages  ;  but  these  things 
are  "  the  higher  English  branches  I"  they  are  en- 
titled to  the  premium ! 

4.  Not  only  has  the  English  education  been  sadly 
injured,  in  some,  if  not  all  the  reporting  academies, 


COMMON   scnooLs. 


247 


but  in  them  classical  learning  has  been  nearly  de- 
stroyed. There  is  little  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
grammar  of  the  dead  or  ancient  languages ;  syn- 
thetical and  analytical  exercises  are  almost  un- 
known ;  works  like  Mair's  Syntax  are  nearly  obso- 
lete !  The  well-meant  rewards  of  the  State  have 
innocently  served  as  a  premium  to  neglect,  and,  alas  ! 
to  cupidity  !  In  some  cases  the  express  letter  and 
spirit  of  the  Regents'  directions  are  deliberately 
violated ;  and  boys  are  skipped  from  no-grammar 
into  Caesar  and  Virgil !  In  most  cases  the  pupils 
are  propelled  or  drawn  over  the  ground  of  gram- 
mar, a  modicum  of  Historiie  Sacraj,  Viri  Roma?, 
First  Book  of  Caesar,  and  First  Book  of  the  yEneid, 
and  the  demand  then  made  for  the  bonus  at  the  hand 
of  the  Regents — as  a  hackney  coachman  would 
drive  them  to  their  homes  in  a  smart  gallop,  let  down 
the  steps,  and  hold  out  his  hand  for  a  dollar  !  Young 
men  come  forth  from  the  academies  yearly,  with  the 
merest  smattering  of  the  languages  ;  and  when  un- 
wittingly taken  as  tutors  or  assistants,  they  are 
found  to  need  the  rudiments  of  what  they  are  ex- 
pected to  teach  !  Not  a  few  leave  college — some  with 
high  honor — who  cannot  parse  |)lain  sentences  of  Latin 
and  Greek,  and  are  profoundly,  and  not  rarely,  boast- 
fully ignorant  of  everything  save  the  college  lessons  ! 
5.  At  the  time  when  the  whole  scheme  of  colle- 
giate and  academic  appropriations  was  originated, 
systems  of  studies  and  books  employed  now  were 
unknown.  Whether  the  changes  have  any  or  all  of 
them  been  for  the  better,  it  is  not  necessary  here  to 
determine  ;  although  reading  Ciusar  or  ^'irgil,  for 


248  CHAPTER   VI 

instance,  means  things  very  different,  according  as 

we  use  different  editions ;  but  it  is  always  next  to 
impossible,  and  often  wiiolly  impossible  now,  to  re- 
gard any  more  than  the  intention  of  the  laws  and 
directions  sent  down  from  time  to  time  to  the  acad- 
emies. The  canon  in  regard  to  age  is  plain  enough  ; 
although  teachers  of  equal  scrupulosity,  vary  in 
judging  of  that  law :  in  all  other  matters  a  rigid  ad- 
herence to  the  letter  of  the  laws  would  defeat  the 
intention  of  the  legislature — no  scholars  could  be 
reported !  Upon  the  minds  of  conscientious  men, 
both  teachers  and  trustees,  the  greatest  doubts  re- 
main ;  and  after  honest  endeavors  to  make  modern 
changes  suit  the  former  age,  trustees  and  teachers 
become  a  law  unto  themselves  !  The  book  of  di- 
rections comes  to  be  wholly  disregarded.  The  care 
of  the  legislature  to  guard  the  whole  with  law  after 
law,  has  been  unavailing  ;  the  attempt  to  bind  most 
stringently  has  given  the  largest  liberty,  or  license  ! 
In  some  places  the  book  of  directions  is  little  read  ; 
in  others  it  is  laughed  at. 

So  will  it  ever  be — so  ought  it  to  be — when  one 
class  of  men  dictates  to  others  how  they  shall  think 
and  act  for  all  coming  ages.  So  will  it  be,  and  must 
be,  when  mere  legislators,  wise  and  competent 
enough  in  their  sphere,  venture  out  of  that  sphere  to 
give  orders  to  teachers,  poets,  musicians — to  any 
artists — as  to  the  sciences  and  arts  belonging  to  their 
professions.  Dictation  and  restriction  from  the  leg- 
islature would  retard  improvement  in  shoemaking — 
mere  legislators  cannot  prepare  suitable  lasts  for 
cord-w^ainers.     Crispin  will  make  shoes  to  suit  the 


COMMON   SCHOOLS,  249 

age.  He  ougfit  not  to  be  bribed  to  stick  to  shoes 
with  buckles,  or  boots  with  yellow  tops.  This  is 
said  to  be  a  liberal  age  ;  and  must  teachers,  who  can 
direct  others,  must  they  be  forced  or  bribed  to  think 
on  teaching  as  legislators  thought  fifty  years  ago  ? 
If  the  State  wishes  to  give  money,  let  the  teacher 
be  allowed  to  do  his  work  still  his  own  way ;  en- 
courage him  to  make  improvements ;  neither  tempt 
nor  bribe  him  to  stand  immoveable,  chained  to  the 
legislature  of  a  by-gone  age  ! 

Very  far  be  it  from  the  author  to  intimate  that 
teachers  are  wrong,  when  they  crowd  all  they  can 
into  legal  studies,  and  keep  others  in  the  legal  stu- 
dies four  months,  at  least,  every  year,  even  if  the 
boys  know  tlie  whole  perfectly.  Some  teachers 
may,  indeed,  be  indifferent  as  to  the  workings  of  the 
system  ;  but  all  have  a  moral  and  legal  right  to 
force  the  parents,  by  means  of  the  children,  to  a  per- 
formance of  their  part  of  the  contract.  If  any  evil 
is  done  the  pupils,  the  community  itself  and  its  rep- 
resentatives are  to  blame.  The  decree  of  the  com- 
munity is,  cheap  education.  The  legislature  is  peti- 
tioned and  threatened  alternately,  till  they  digest 
some  scheme  to  diminish  the  amount  of  a  fair  quar- 
ter-bill. In  time  a  plan  is  devised,  and  aid  is  given 
to  an  academy,  provided  less  than  an  honest  price 
is  charged  for  the  tuition,  on  the  part  of  trustees  and 
teacher  ;  in  other  words,  the  State  undertakes  to 
make  up  the  deficiency,  that  the  teacher  may  not 
lose.  All  this  would  be  fair  enough,  and  perhajjs 
productive  of  no  evil,  if  the  legislature  did  n^t  make 
it    necessary    for    the    teacher,   or   the    academy. 


250 


CIIAPTKR  VI. 


to  raise  tliat  part  of  the  pay  intended  to  be  given, 
from  the  pupils  themselves.  The  tuition  fees  are 
put  as  low  as  possible,  to  avoid  a  high  direct  tax ; 
and  then  the  pupils  are  made  into  conduit  pipes  to 
convey  indirectly  the  rest  of  the  tax.  Teachers 
will,  and  ought  to  be  paid.  It  is  an  impertinence 
most  insufferable  to  ask  them  to  heat  pokers  for 
nothing.  Neither  parent  nor  boy  has  a  right  to  com- 
plain when  each  is  used  just  as  the  law  intends  ;  and 
although  education  is  not  the  best  with  the  gifts  thus 
bestowed,  yet  in  many  places,  if  the  plan  were  sud- 
denly altered,  by  the  withdrawment  of  the  appro- 
pi-iation,  an  academy  would  be  instantly  destroyed, 
because  the  diminished  tuition  fee,  diminished  for  the 
sake  of  the  donation,  could  not  be  immediately  raised 
to  a  proper  point.  It  is,  indeed,  not  improbable  that 
all  appropriations  to  colleges  and  academies  will  be 
finally  taken  away,  not,  however,  for  reasons  assigned 
in  this  chapter,  and  similar  ones,  but  because  the 
legislature  wish  to  pet  the  people  in  another  way, 
and  to  try  their  hand  at  a  little  common  school  edu- 
cating. At  that  they  will  fail,  too,  if  they  give  the 
money  and  meddle  with  the  system.  Railroads, 
telegraphs,  banks,  and  all  secular  things  are  their 
province  :  sacred  matters,  religion  and  education,  are 
beyond  their  ken. 

Be  the  community,  on  a  large  or  small  scale,  well 
assured,  that  some  old  things  are  yet  as  good  as 
new  :  among  these  are,  ex  nihilo  nihil  Jit — no  stream 
hisfher  than  its  fountain — action  and  re-action  are 
equal ;  or  more  vulgarly — if  you  kill  my  dog,  I  will 
kill  your  cat.     Teachers  must  be  paid.    Treat  them 


COMMON    SCHOOLS.  05I 

as  men  should  be  treated,  and  the  result  is,  high 
price  and  large  work ;  otherwise,  low  price  and 
small  work.  But  in  either  case,  there  is  returned 
the  money's  worth.  Let  there  be  no  whining  com- 
plaint :  the  call  was  for  cheap  education — and 
cheap  education  came.  The  sovereign  voice  ran 
have  what  it  asks. 

A  very  important  objection  in  the  scheme  admin- 
istered by  the  Regents  of  the  Universiy,  is  the  very 
solemn  oath  required,  not  of  the  trustees  only,  but 
of  the  teachers. 

The  best  moralists  lament  the  multiplication  of 
oaths.  They  deem  many  oaths  a  source  of  reck- 
lessness and  profanity.  In  the  teacher's  oath,  and 
the  manner  of  administering  it,  there  seems  nothing 
to  weaken  that  conclusion.  Indeed,  it  is,  with  all 
the  seeming  care  in  its  construction,  inaccurately 
worded  ;  so  that  without  the  explanation  of  legal 
gentlemen,  (and  such  differ  in  its  interpretation,)  a 
scrupulous  man  fears  to  take  it;  and  yet,  such  lati 
tude  is  allowed  in  other  parts,  that  anybody  may 
take  the  oath,  if  he  have  only  confidence  in  the 
trustees. 

A  special  hardship  in  the  oath  is,  that  a  teacher 
swears,  not  to  his  hurt,  but  to  his  profit — he  swears 
to  get  money!  After  all  the  explanation  the  author 
has  heard,  of  the  intention  of  the  law  and  the  inter- 
pretation said  to  be  put  on  the  matter  by  the  Re- 
gents, it  comes  to  that  naked  fact.  A  teacher,  bear- 
ing witness  in  a  court  of  justice,  and  swearing  to 
facts  in  which  he  had  no  interest,  could  swear  with 
less  trepidation  ;  but   here,  he   has  to  suppose  the 


252  CHAPTER    VI. 

facts  are  agreeable  to  the  intention  of  the  law,  and 
is  all  the  time  alarmed,  lest  his  pecuniary  interest 
in  these  accommodated  or  substituted,  or  equivalent 
facts,  may  have  blinded  his  perceptions.  Some,  we 
well  know,  do  consider  this  whole  matter  a  tempta- 
tion and  a  snare :  conscientious  men  always  feel 
alarmed  and  humbled,  when  called  to  take  that 
oath. 

But  not  rarely  is  the  oath  deemed  a  mere  form. 
Except  as  to  the  age  of  the  pupil,  teachers  do  not, 
they  cannot  swear  according  to  the  letter  of  the 
directions  ;  for  books,  systems,  modes  of  education, 
all  are  changed.  As  there  is  no  literal  obedience  to 
these  requirements,  there  can  be  nothing  but  a  form 
in  swearing  the  words  of  the  oath.  If  an  oath  is 
insisted  upon,  a  new  and  very  general  form  should 
be  prepared. 

It  is  said  advisedly  that  teachers,  in  some  cases, 
and  also  trustees,  go  wholly  by  tradition,  as  to  the 
meaning  of  the  Legislature  and  Regents.  These 
persons,  when  pointed  to  the  letter  of  the  require- 
ments, have  uniformly  said,  if  w^e  follow  literally, 
we  can  report  none  ;  and  that,  certainly,  is  not 
what  the  Legislature  wish — we  have  followed,  and 
will  yet  follow  what  seems  to  be  the  meaning.  Di- 
rections given  with  great  minuteness  some  half  a 
century  ago,  are  unmeaning  now ;  and  hence  every 
teacher  in  this  sea  of  uncertainty,  being  left  to  his 
own  latitude  and  longitude,  contrives  to  thrust  into 
his  report  as  many  as  possible,  and  as  unconcern- 
edly as  if  no  restriction  were  intended,  or  oath  on 
the  matter  were  to  be  taken  '     Besides,  trustees  and 


COMMON     SCHOOLS.  O53 

leachers  do  not  believe  the  moneys  belong  to  the 
Regents :  they  see  no  necessity  for  so  much  com- 
plication ;  and  provided  they  know  enough  of  the 
pamphlets  to  keep  the  form,  they  care  little  for  the 
substance. 

The  author  knows  that  several  most  excellent  and 
worthy  gentlemen,  both  trustees  and  teachers,  con- 
nected with  more  than  one  academy,  labor  under 
much  distress  and  anxiety  as  to  the  oaths  ;  and  for 
himself  he  can  honestly  say,  that  more  nights  than 
one  have  been  devoted  by  him  to  something  besides 
gentle  and  balmy  slumbers,  in  coming  to  a  deter- 
mination what  pupils  to  report,  and  how  to  take  that 
formidable  oath.  He  has  been  several  times  on 
the  very  verge  of  resigning  his  station  in  an  acad- 
emy reporting  to  the  Regents ;  and  he  is  yet  not 
wholly  free  from  disquietude.  The  compensation 
is  a  small  remuneration  for  the  suffering  endured. 
He  has  consulted  legal  gentlemen,  who,  however, 
have  given  different  and  almost  opposite  opinions  ; 
while  some  treat  the  anxiety  as  an  unnecessary 
scrupulosity.  And  yet,  it  is  alarming  to  think  that 
one  may  be  so  near  perjury — and  for  money  ! 

Strange,  that  gifts  should  be  so  offered,  that  when 
you  hold  out  the  hand  to  receive  them,  you  at  the 
moment  must  bow  your  neck  to  a  yoke  as  galling 
as  a  slave's  or  criminal's  !  Why  not  swear  to  the 
truth  of  every  quarter-bill  presented  to  a  parent  ? 
If  we  swear  to  obtain  one  part  of  our  price,  why 
not  the  other  ?  "  How  near  to  a  prison,"  says  Ci- 
cero,  "  is  one  who  judges  himself  fit  to  be  watched  !" 
— and  how  near  are  we  deemed  to  falsehood,  if  w© 
12 


254  CHAPTER  vr. 

cannot  be  believed  but  on  oath  ?  If  teachers  canuo( 
be  trusted  without  a  most  solemn  oath,  in  matters  so 
plain  and  of  daily  occurrence,  of  what  value  is  their 
swearing  ?  It  is  hard  enough  to  judge  of  the  inten- 
tion of  the  law-maker,  and  to  earn  the  money,  with- 
out endangering  one's  soul  by  a  possible  perjury — 
and  to  be  bribed  to  it ! 

Honorable  and  patriotic  men  framed  the  teacher's 
oath.  But  these  gentlemen  were  used  to  oaths  in 
courts  of  justice,  in  the  halls  of  legislation,  in  cus- 
tom-houses— in  short,  everywhere ;  and  it  was, 
therefore,  natural  and  easy  that  they  should  require 
an  oath  in  attestation  of  school-reports.  The  State, 
indeed,  gives  away  and  intrusts  nothing,  without 
requiring  an  oath ;  and  so  religion  and  education 
must  be  sworn.  An  apostle  could  hardly  obtain  a 
book  or  parchment  from  a  representative  body,  un- 
less he  should  swear  to  return  it,  and,  perhaps,  give 
additional  security.  And  yet,  while  the  numerous? 
oaths  may  do  well  enough  to  "  end  strife,"  they  are 
too  often  found  unavailing  to  secure  the  State  from 
incessant  fi-auds.  If  we  may  judge  of  the  efficacy 
of  oaths,  from  the  solemnity  with  which  they  are 
usually  taken  and  administered,  we  should  have 
little  confidence  in  them — they  seem  to  be  regarded 
as  a  mere  form. 

The  teacher  who  obeys  the  spirit  or  letter  of  the 
Regents'  Instructions,  and  partici^larly  he  that  keeps, 
in  addition,  the  Meteorological  Journal,  and  draws, 
in  consequence,  some  one  or  two  hundred  dollars, 
has  more,  far  more  than  earned  his  wages,  even 
by  honest  labor,  without  being  forced  to  swear  to 


COMMON    SCHOOLS. 


255 


the  fact.  Were  tuition  fees  at  the  just  point,  and 
the  State  would  not  assist  the  community  to  keep 
the  fees  below  that  point,  most  teachers  would 
gladly  exchange  the  slavery  and  humility  of  the 
present  mode,  for  the  freedom  of  the  other. 

A  deep  conviction  is  seated  in  the  author's  mind, 
that  however  well-meant  endowments  and  grants, 
and  however  high-minded  the  noble  men  who  may 
have  moved  for  these  gifts — that  these  things  do 
finally,  and  from  many  causes,  differing  however  in 
difTerent  places,  work  evil  and  not  good  ;  and 
mainly  because  the  endowments  or  gifts  do  usually 
or  at  least  frequently,  lead  the  people  to  depend 
unduly  upon  that  aid  ;  because,  from  various  causes, 
the  gifts  are  bestowed  with  more  or  less  of  inter- 
ference with  the  independency  of  the  school,  the 
teacher,  the  system,  the  books ;  and  because  not 
infrequently,  an  absolute  right  is  claimed  and  exer- 
cised over  the  teacher,  as  an  hireling  and  a  slave. 

Objection  to  existing  plans  may  render  it  obliga- 
tory on  the  objector  to  furnish  better ;  although  it 
does  not  necessarily  follow  that  a  person  incompe- 
tent to  provide  a  substitute,  is  not  able  to  see  the 
faults  and  appreciate  the  evils  of  existing  systems. 
Perhaps,  it  may  be  fair  enough  to  ask  the  objector 
for  his  remedy,  if  he  have  one,  both  for  the  sake  of 
adopting  that  remedy,  if  a  good  one,  and  also  be- 
cause the  objector  should  be  willing  to  be  himself 
severely  criticised,  who  severely  criticises  others. 
The  present  objector  is,  however,  not  moved  by 
any  improper  spirit  in  his  remarks  ;  and  is  willing 
to  propose  a  plan,  not  wholly  free  from  objection,  and 


256  CHAPTER    VI 

yet  better,  in  his  opinion,  than  the  existing  one ;  or 
which,  at  least  in  the  hands  of  more  competent  men, 
may  be  made  better. 

One  main  intention  of  the  law  in  the  present  case, 
is  to  remunerate  the  teacher,  who,  in  consequence 
of  the  gift,  asks  less  tuition  fees  from  the  parents ; 
and  also,  to  reward  and  encourage  him  for  his  exer- 
tions in  behalf  of  education.  It  is,  therefore,  most 
expressly  and  unequivocally  stated,  and  in  several 
places,  in  the  instructions  furnished  by  the  Regents 
to  the  academies,  that  the  moneys  appropriated  by 
the  legislature  shall  be  paid  to  the  teachers.  This 
end  will  be  gained  at  once,  if  for  every  pupil  over 
twelve  years,  who  shall  have  studied  one  entire 
quarter,  calendar  or  academical,  and  in  any  branch 
of  learning,  primary,  superior,  english,  mathemat- 
ical, or  classical,  a  given,  or  pro  re  nata,  portion  of 
the  moneys  shall  be  allowed ;  the  time  of  continu- 
ance in  the  academy,  and  the  age  of  the  pupil,  being 
the  only  limitations. 

By  commencing  with  twelve  instead  of  ten  years, 
the  numbers  reported  would  be  diminished ;  while 
by  limiting  in  time  to  three  months  instead  of  four, 
many,  and  the  very  best  scholars  in  the  school, 
would  be  secured  to  the  master ;  while  scholars  do 
now  frequently  go  away  at  the  end  of  a  first  quar- 
ter, and  cannot  conscientiously  be  put  into  the  re- 
port and  claimed.  The  combined  action — increas- 
ing the  age  and  diminishing  the  period  of  studying 
—would  make  the  number  reported  about  the  same, 
or  perhaps  rather  less  than  at  present.  But  as  a 
pro  re  nata  allotment  would  be  made,  a  less  number 


COMMON    SCHOOLS.  257 

reported  would  raise  the  amount  paid  by  the  Re- 
gents on  each  pupil  claimed. 

Let  also  a  teacher  who  keeps  the  Meteorological 
Journal  be  paid  for  that  very  troublesome  duty.  It  is 
unequal  to  pay  all  alike,  when  their  duties  and  labors 
are  so  unlike.  A  few  cents  per  head  might  be 
allowed  those  academies  that  keep  the  Journal,  over 
and  above  the  portion  of  the  other  academies. 

Let,  moreover,  no  academy  be  required  to  have 
a  library  or  apparatus.  Let  that  be  rigorously  re- 
quired of  the  colleges,  but  not  of  the  academies. 
The  academies  do  not  need  these  things.  The  true 
academical  course  of  education  dispenses  with  a 
library  and  apparatus.  J\''ever,  in  some  academies,  is  a 
book  taken  from  the  library  ;  and  only  once  or  twice 
in  a  year,  is  there  use  for  any  part  of  an  apparatus. 
Few  academies — unless  independent  ones,  where  a 
liberal  tuition  fee  is  paid — can  afford  to  employ  a 
professor,  competent  to  lecture  and  exhibit  experi- 
ments ;  and  for  ordinary  teachers  to  try  experiments 
is  always  ridiculous,  and  not  rarely  dangerous. 
Fun  and  foolery  accompany  the  experiments  'of  an 
unskillful  philosopher.  In  many  academies,  there- 
fore, the  few  articles  of  apparatus,  costing  origi- 
nally some  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  (!),  is 
rusted  into  fixidity  and  wholly  out  of  repair,  and 
would  require  an  outlay  of  thirty  or  forty  dollars 
to  prepare  it  for  producing  air  or  water!  And 
what  an  idea  of  chemistry  and  natural  ])hilosophy  ! 
to  be  fully  and  fairly  taught  with  an  apparatus  worth 
only  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  !  The  apparatus  is, 
therefore,  used  just  as  such  an  one  should  be  used — 


258  CHAPTER    VI. 

to  make  up  the  yearly  report  !  And  yet,  it  requires 
a  considerable  strain  on  the  swearing  organ  ofsonne 
presidents,  to  hoist  that  dead  weight  into  the  trus- 
tees' report.  Far  from  me  to  impute  any  intended 
fraud :  it  is,  doubtless,  presumed  in  all  such  cases, 
where  an  apparatus  is  useless  or  not  used,  that  it 
would  be  regarded  favorably  by  the  legislature  or 
the  Regents,  and  that  the  latitude  of  interpretation 
is  allowable.  Indeed,  the  "  present  value"  is  always 
sworn  to,  of  both  books  and  apparatus  ;  but  it  is  no- 
where defined  what  is  meant  by  that  value.  The 
intrinsic  value,  as  far  as  use  is  concerned,  is  often 
exactly — nothing !  But  the  present  value  is  ever 
interpreted  to  signify  what  the  articles  or  books 
cost  at  the  time  when  they  were  purchased,  pro- 
vided their  form  remains,  and  however  soiled  or 
worn.  Nor  does  it  matter  whether  ten  times  the 
amount  both  in  number  and  quality,  can  now  be  got 
for  the  sum  given  for  things  reported,  perhaps  dur- 
ing twenty  years  !  It  is  taken  for  granted  that  the 
whole  is  a  mere  form.  It  is,  indeed,  a  hardship  in 
almost  all  cases  to  require  a  board  of  trustees  to 
have,  over  and  above  their  academy  lot  and  build- 
ing, books  and  apparatus.  If  a  very  strict  interpre- 
tation were  insisted  on,  either  most  academies  would 
cease  reporting,  or  find  it  as  cheap  to  pay  a  salary, 
as  to  keep  books  and  apparatus  in  order  sufficient 
to  draw  the  small  sums  which  many  of  them  obtain. 
Whether  the  plan  just  hinted,  or  some  similar 
plan,  ever  be  adopted,  in  place  of  the  complicated 
one  in  the  Regents'  directions,  cannot  be  said ;  but 
it  is  virtually  acted  upon,  in  all  probability,  by  the 


COMMON    SCHOOLS 


259 


academies.  All  pupils  over  ten  years  are,  in  some 
way  or  other,  worked  into  classical  or  high  english 
studies  ;  and  not  more  would  be  put  into  a  report  on 
the  new  method,  than  the  existing  method.  Perhaps, 
if  a  difference  happened,  less  would  be  reported  than 
at  present ;  and  certainly  as  much  to  the  honor  of 
the  academies,  and  the  advantage  of  the  State. 

Nor  should  any  oaths  be  taken  by  either  trustee 
or  teacher.  Men  at  the  head  of  literary  institutions, 
whether  theoretically  as  trustees,  or  actually  as 
principals,  may  surely  be  credited  on  their  bare 
word,  especially  in  regard  to  two  very  simple  facts 
— the  age  of  a  boy,  and  the  period  of  time  he  may 
have  spent  in  an  academy.  In  short,  all  the  ends 
intended  by  the  legislature  in  appropriating  moneys 
to  academies,  would  be  answered  by  the  new  plan, 
and  the  teacher  saved  from  a  great  and  needless 
labor,  and  from  some  things  at  war  with  his  con- 
science, dignity,  and  honor. 


CHAPTER    VII. 


PERSONS  MOST  SUITABLE  FOR  TEACHERS. 

From  what  has  been  said  respecting  the  charactet- 
of  the  teacher,  and  the  true  ends  of  education,  it  must 
be  manifest,  that,  in  addition  to  mental  culture  and 
furniture,  and  other  qualifications,  a  teacher  should  be, 
not  merely  a  moral  man,  but  a  sincerely  religious 
man.  When  possible,  teachers  should  be  ministers 
of  the  Gospel ;  not,  indeed,  ministers  who  cannot 
preach  ;  not  persons,  who,  from  infirmity,  or  disap- 
pointment, or  caprice,  or  a  mistaken  and  mischievous 
expectation  of  a  more  quiet  sphere,  or  any  cause 
other  than  love  of  the  duty,  take  up  teaching  as  a 
secondary  matter. 

This  is,  unhappily,  too  often  the  case.  Alas  !  min- 
isters of  the  Gospel,  even  as  laymen,  frequently  teach 
because  they  can  do  nothing  else.  Lords  beyond  the 
water,  it  is  said,  provide  for  younger  sons  by  making 
them  parsons  :  inefficient  parsons,  in  this  land,  provide 
for  themselves,  now  and  then,  by  teaching.  If  right 
views  of  education  are  possessed,  it  will  be  seen  that 
ministers  of  the  best  talents,  men  able  to  preach  and 
to  command  both  salaries  and  hearers,  but  who  decide 


PERSONS  MOST  SUITABLE  FOR  TEACHERS  og  j 

that  teaching  is  either  the  whole  or  a  part  of  their 
duty  to  God  and  man,  to  the  Church  and  the  State, 
are  the  proper  persons  to  become  teachers.  And 
such  ministers  should  undertake  the  office  of  a 
teacher  as  conscientiously,  as  solemnly,  and  with  as 
true  a  sense  of  responsibility,  as  others  take  on  them 
the  pastoral  relation. 

Ministers  may,  sometimes,  unite  teaching  with  a 
pastoral  charge.  At  other  times  they  may  separate 
teaching,  and  preach  as  they  have  opportunity, 
either  to  regularly  organized  congregations,  or  as 
missionaries  in  their  neighborhoods. 

Next  to  a  congregation  in  importance  is  a  school. 
A  minister  specially  apt  to  teach  a  school,  may  do 
wrong  if  he  prefer  not  a  school.  Cases  exist,  they 
can  easily  be  supposed,  where  a  school  is,  for  a  sea- 
son, more  important  than  a  congregation. 

The  author  is  aware  that  he  is  advancing  senti- 
ments at  variance  with  the  common  opinion,  nay,  in 
direct  opposition  to  doctrines  fulminated  like  a  phi- 
lippic by  some  late-learned  brethren,  against  clergy- 
men who  teach  schools,  as  though  such  ministers 
had  become  secularized.  True,  these  "  lords  over 
God's  heritage"  do,  now  and  then,  condescend  to  sit 
in  the  high  places  of  education,  whatever  they  may 
say  and  think  of  smaller  folk,  who  are  found  plodding 
a  wearisome  way  in  the  low  places.  Whether  this 
contrariety  between  conduct  and  sentiment,  arises 
from  a  change  in  sentiment  for  the  better,  or  from 
love  of  eminence  and  power,  we  cannot  always  de- 
cide ;  but  wherein  a  minister  that  teaches,  becomes 
secular,  in  any  invidious  sense  of  that  term,  we  dis- 
12* 


252  CHAPTER    VII. 

cern  not.  When  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  has  chil- 
dren and  young  persons  under  a  species  of  parental 
and  pastoral  charge,  is  he  secular,  because,  in  ad- 
dition to  clerical  or  spiritual  care  over  them,  he 
teaches  them  literature  and  science  ? 

Moreover,  in  teaching  the  sciences  or  the  classics 
— especially  the  latter — innumerable  opportunities 
offer,  of  giving  the  very  best  religious  instruction. 
He  is  fit  neither  for  a  minister  nor  a  teacher,  who 
cannot  make  lessons  often  as  solemn  as  a  sermon. 
The  number  may  be  small  thus  preached  to,  but 
they  may  be  again  and  again  more  deeply  im- 
pressed, than  if  they  were  in  a  pew,  and  not  on  a 
bench.  Among  the  hundreds  addressed  in  a  church 
on  the  Sabbath,  sometimes  but  one  or  two  are  bene- 
fitted ;  that  number  is  frequently  benefitted  in  a 
small  class.  The  Gospel  may  be  preached  by  the 
road-side  to  a  single  traveller  :  why  not  in  a  school- 
room to  fifty  or  sixty  scholars  1  It  may  be  preached 
without  a  text,  and  without  a  manuscript.  Is  every 
other  method  of  conveying  divine  truth  to  the  minds 
of  men,  a  secularizing  affair,  save  that  of  a  sermon 
delivered  in  a  church  on  the  Sabbath-day  ?  The 
teacher  is  always  with  his  flock.  He  may  fail  in 
seizing  the  occasions  opportunity  offers  ;  but  he 
may  do  the  good  if  his  soul  is  in  his  business. 
As  to  the  love  of  money,  sometimes  too  uncharita- 
bly attributed  to  ministers  who  teach  a  school, 
the  salaries  of  the  teachers  are  often  less  than  the 
salaries  of  the  men  who  rebuke.  Few  teachers  ever 
make  much  money  ;  and  they  have  no  kind  con- 
gregation to   sympathize  in   their   sorrows,   or  to 


PERSONS  MOST  SUITABI-E  FOR  TEACHERS.  263 

make  occasional  exertions  for  orphan  children  or 
widowed  wives,  when  death  removes  the  fathers. 
But  what  money  is  got,  teachers  fairly  earn  : 
whether  they  love  it,  of  necessity,  more  than  a  min- 
ister his  salary,  man,  who  reads  not  the  heart,  neither 
may  nor  can  judge.  A  melancholy  day  will  it  be 
for  education,  if  ministers  of  the  Gospel  all  withdraw 
from  participation  in  its  practical  duties.  In  moral 
matters,  ministers  are  essential.  The  temperance 
cause  has  been  put  in  jeopardy  in  most  places,  and 
wholly  ruined  in  others,  by  the  justifiable  withdraw- 
ment  or  forcible  expulsion  of  the  clergy  from  its 
management  and  advocacy.  The  cause  of  educa- 
tion is  already  in  jeopardy  in  certain  quarters,  for 
want  of  ministerial  co-operation :  its  ruin  is  certain 
whenever  the  sentiment  becomes  universal,  that 
clergymen  are  acting  an  inconsistent  part  by  be- 
coming actually  teachers. 

Among  the  reasons  why  clergymen  should  be 
teachers,  are  the  following  : — 

1.  For  obvious  causes  these  persons  are  more 
likely  than  other  men  to  become  professional  and 
permanent  teachers.  Teaching  is  analogous  to  their 
main  duty,  and  it  is  easily  associated  with  that  duty. 
Other  men  may  easily  and  without  inconvenience  or 
scandal,  from  time  to  time,  leave  the  office  of  teach- 
ing :  law,  medicine,  merchandise,  farming — every- 
thing, iu  short,  may  be  exchanged  by  laymen  for 
teaching,  whenever  teaching  becomes  irksome  or  of 
little  profit.  Not  so  with  the  clergy.  These  are  sup- 
posed to  take  the  ofi'ice  of  tenching,  from  motives  sim- 
ilar to  those  with  whirh  they  take  the  pnsforal  ollice  : 


264  CHAPTER  VH. 

regard  for  the  moral  and  spiritual  interests  of  men. 
But  if  clergymen  become  weary  or  discouraged  > 
whither  can  they  go,  except  to  the  pulpit  ?  Without 
the  most  urgent  and  manifest  reasons,  they  may  not 
betake  themselves  to  mere  secular  pursuits.  The 
world  will  not,  at  present,  tolerate  that  exchange  ;  it 
expects  ministers  to  depart  no  farther  from  the  pulpit, 
than'the  school-room.  Hence  thedouble  security  that 
ministerial  teachers  will  be  professional  and  not  ama- 
teur teachers  ;  and  hence  the  vast  superiority  of  the 
former  over  the  latter.  The  business  of  education  de- 
mands the  life,  the  soul  :  ministers  are,  of  choice  and 
necessity,  more  bound  than  other  men  to  devote  the 
life  to  the  cause. 

2.  Generally  speaking,  and  specially  in  this  coun- 
try, clergymen  are  more  extensively  learned.  In 
mathematics  and  languages  they  are  commonly  well 
taught,  and  eminently  well  in  all  that  pertains  to 
logic,  metaphysics,  and  general  literature.  They 
may,  indeed,  be  excelled  in  this  and  that  special 
branch,  by  a  professed  mathematician,  or  linguist, 
or  critic  ;  or  by  other  professional  men,  physicians 
and  lawyers,  they  may  be  surpassed  in  certain  parts 
of  logic  and  physiology  ;  but  taking  into  account  the 
great  variety  of  topics  not  specially  pertaining  to 
any  one  art  or  profession,  clergymen  are  more 
extensively  learned  than  other  persons.  They 
have,  in  short,  more  of  the  mental  furniture  neces- 
sary to  form  a  professional  teacher  than  the  other 
classes  of  learned  persons.  A  master  requires 
far  more  than  is  apparent  to  superficial  thinkers 
even  to  teach  common  and  plain  things  properly — 


PERSONS   MOST  SUITABLE   FOR   TF.At'HElta 


265 


such  as  Geography,  History,  and  most  particularly, 
Grammar;  but  to  teach  higher  matters  profitably, 
he  must  be  deep,  if  not  absolutely  profound.  He  is 
not  competent  to  instruct  in  any  branch,  who  knows 
little  or  nothing  beyond  the  text  book.  When  pa- 
rents suspect  or  discover  that  a  stream  is  noisy  and 
shallow,  the  influence  of  the  teacher  is  gone.  Many 
a  teacher's  depth  is  fathomed  with  a  line  an  inch  or 
two  longer  than  the  one  let  down  by  the  inquiring. 
The  inquirer  may  tremble  as  did  Don  Quixote  and 
his  esquire,  while  hanging  all  night  in  the  dark  to 
the  sides  of  a  dreadful  clift^ — one  foot  from  the  bot- 
tom ! — but  a  ray  of  additional  light  would  discover 
how  little  was  critical  in  the  situation. 

3.  If  a  clergyman  assume  the  olhce  of  a  teacher, 
particularly  if  it  be  thought  that  it  was  assumed 
voluntarily  and  from  a  sense  of  duty,  greater  dig- 
nity attaches  to  the  office,  and,  by  consequence, 
greater  influence.  Judgment  is  formed  among  men 
of  the  character  and  nature  of  an  employment  or 
profession,  very  commonly,  from  the  character  and 
standing  of  persons  who  choose  it.  And  judgment 
once  formed  in  this  way,  is  satisfied ;  and  after- 
wards, our  best  and  dearest  interests  are  at  once 
committed  to  these  men,  without  further  inquiry  or 
solicitude  about  the  machinery  of  their  art,  trade, 
or  profession.  Hence  the  world  is  deeply  impressed 
with  the  importance  of  education  and  the  value  of 
schools,  when  they  see  men  of  the  rank,  dignity, 
learning,  and  morality  of  clergymen,  voluntarily  en- 
gaging as  teachers,  and  seeming  to  regard  educa- 
tion as  important   enough  to  turn  them  aside   from 


266 


CHAPTER  VII. 


their  more  direct  duty.  "  Great  reverence  is  due  to 
boys,"  is  a  good  maxim ;  and  when  reverend  men 
set  the  example  in  devoting  themselves  to  the  train- 
ing of  boys,  the  world  learns  to  reverence  schools. 
If  we  would  elevate  schools  or  preserve  them  at  a 
proper  elevation,  elevate  the  teachers  and  keep 
them  elevated. 

4.  Clergymen,  from  education  and  habit,  are  best 
fitted  to  teach  morality  and  religion.  Children,  too^ 
regard  with  greater  attention  and  respect  teachers 
of  religion,  reverenced  in  that  office  by  men  them- 
selves. Laymen  may,  they  often  do,  give  religious 
instruction  to  their  pupils ;  but,  generally  speaking, 
laymen  are  not  so  much  disposed  as  clergymen,  nor, 
when  they  attempt  it,  can  they  do  this  duty  as  well. 

If,  indeed,  religion  is  to  be  expelled  from  schools* 
or  not  admitted,  then  may  clergymen  stand  aloof 
from  the  whole  business  of  education.  They  have 
no  more  to  do  with  schools  than  with  that  necessary 
abortion,  the  Girard  College.  Lay-teachers,  who 
make  no  pretensions  to  more  piety  than  their  neigh- 
bors, and  who  have,  perhaps,  as  much  contempt  or 
indifference  towards  the  Christian  religion  as  their 
patrons,  may  then  serve.  But  if  religion  is  to  be  in- 
corporated with  the  whole  machinery  and  discipline 
of  schools,  then  are  clergymen  better  adapted  to  that 
end  than  other  men. 

That  the  teachers  in  an  academy,  or  college,  or 
wherever  several  are  required,  should  all  be  minis- 
ters of  the  Gospel,  is  not  necessary.  The  grand  ad- 
vantages are  gained  if  the  principal  or  president  be 
a  clergvman.     And  wh  ere  but  a  single  teacher  is  re^ 


PERSONS  MOST    SUITABLE  FOR  TEACFIERS.  267 

quired,  the  best  teacher  there  would  be  a  clerical 
one,  wholly  and  for  life  devoted  to  his  profession  as 
a  teacher.  No  alarm  need  be  felt  by  other  teach- 
ers from  such  a  declaration :  because  not  the  slight- 
est ground  exists  for  supposing  that  all  clergymen 
will  become  teachers,  or  that  all  teachers  will  become 
clergymen.  We  only  state  that  if  a  consequence* 
never  likely  to  happen,  did  happen,  or  were  sup- 
posed to  happen,  it  would  not  be  a  disastrous  conse- 
quence. It  is,  however,  a  consequence  that  may  be 
approximated ;  for,  if  our  views  are  true,  or  par- 
tially true,  then  may  young  men  who  seek  the  holy 
office  of  the  ministry,  regard  in  their  training  that  cog- 
nate office,  school-teaching.  Some  men  are  educated 
in  theological  institutions  for  special  objects  in 
view  of  foreign  fields ;  and  among  such  objects  is 
teaching  heathen  children,  not  merely  religion,  but 
arts  and  sciences.  And  is  there  no  important  rea- 
son manifest  why  divinity  students  may  design  to 
become,  in  whole  or  in  part,  teachers  of  schools  at 
home  ? 

A  class  of  schools  is  now  advocated — a  class  that 
ought  and  must,  and  for  many  important  reasons, 
become  numerous — parochial  schools.  The  religious 
people  of  the  country  will  have  religion  in  schools. 
Destroy  the  common  schools  by  prohibiting  the 
Christian  religion  there  ;  and  the  religious  denomi- 
nations will  before  long  give  us  better  schools. 
True,  they  may  be  robbed  by  indirect  taxation  to 
sustain  infidel  schools,  or  anti-protestant  schools  ; 
butthejjj  will  not  be  robbed  at  the  same  time  of  their 
own  children,  or  have  them,  in  other  words,  trained 


268 


CHAPTER    VII. 


for  the  State  only.  In  case,  then,  a  parochial  school 
is  established,  there  the  school  is  brought  under  the 
minister's  direction,  discipline  and  influence  ;  it  may, 
often,  be  wholly  or  partially  under  his  actual  and 
daily  instruction,  and  that  in  learning  as  well  as 
morals.  Perhaps  among  a  weak  people  a  minister 
can  be  supported  only  in  his  two-fold  office,  as 
teacher  and  pastor.  Perhaps,  here  we  may  behold 
a  collegiate  charge — the  one  minister  devoted 
mainly  to  the  preaching  and  visiting,  the  other  to 
the  school,  and  occasional  clerical  duties  in  the 
church  and  congregation.  Wherever  ages  place 
two  ministers  in  the  relation  of  father  and  son,  this 
species  of  collegiate  charge  may  be  delightful,  and 
productive  of  all  the  advantages  of  a  collegiate 
charge,  and  few  or  none  of  its  disadvantages.  Pa- 
rents and  children  would  thus  be  one  flock,  and  all 
be  led  and  trained  from  childhood  to  old  age.  To 
the  author  many  beauties  in  this  plan  are  discerni- 
ble. And  children  could  thus  be  retained  under  pa- 
rental influence  till  a  good  elementary  education 
was  secured. 

The  vulgar  canting  cry  of  "  union  between 
Church  and  State,"  is  not  unheard  by  the  writer — 
but  it  is  simply  unheeded.  If  the  union  did  take 
place,  and  must  be  an  alternative,  better  by  far  than 
that  horrible  union — the  union  of  infidelity,  or  of 
no-religion  and  State  !  The  worst  form  of  the  Prot- 
estant religion  is  infinitely  preferable  to  any  form  or 
phase  of  Atheism,  Deism,  Nothingism — yea,  Indif- 
ferentism !  Any  form  of  Protestantism  is  superior 
to  the  best  form  of  Romanism  :  but  the  verv  worst 


PERSONS   MOST   SUITABLE   FOR   TEACHERS  269 

form  of  Romanism  is  better  than  no  religion.  Of 
two  evils  we  prefer  the  least.  Romanism  devours 
only  professed  foes  ;  Atheism,  scorpion-like,  after  de- 
stroying its  foes,  destroys  its  friends,  and  then  itself! 
Romanism  is  purgatory ;  A  theism  is  hell.  From  one 
is  a  chance  of  a  resurrection — in  the  other  is  eter- 
nal death.  Possibly  the  evils  of  superstition  may, 
sometimes,  balance  the  evils  of  Atheism  ;  but  wher- 
ever the  sign  of  the  cross  is  found,  there  may 
we,  peradventure,  find  Him  that  died  upon  the  cross. 
Could  Rome,  in  power,  be  tolerant — could  Rome 
allow  men  to  be  evangelical  in  the  midst  of  her  forms 
and  follies — contenting  herself  with  argument  and 
entreaty,  and  not  arming  with  fire  and  sword — a 
State  might,  in  a  degree,  flourish,  and  some  happiness 
be  secured  for  all.  But  Atheism  has  no  vital  princi- 
ple. Its  breath  is  pestilence — its  life,  death  !  its 
existence,  damnation  !  To  this  tends  any  school 
system,  which,  of  choice  or  necessity,  admits  no  re- 
ligion. Counteracting  elements  may  be  in  a  half- 
christianized  community  ;  but  these  elements  are 
hourly  becoming  weaker  and  weaker,  and  in  no  long 
period  will  have  changed  into  an  atmosphere  of  pol- 
lution, pestilence,  and  destruction* 

Byt  the  writer,  who  has  had  favorable  opportuni- 
ties for  observing,  well  knows  that  schools,  not  pro- 
fessedly sectarian,  and  in  which  pupils  from  all  or 
many  other  denominations  are  congregated,  make 
no  attempts  to  bias  the  minds  of  the  pupils  to  any 
special  creed,  religious  or  political.  If,  however,  a 
school  is  professedly  a  denominational  school,  and  is 
80  published  to  the  world,  it  has  a  right  not  only  to 


270  CHAPTER  VII. 

teach  religion,  but  what  is  termed  sectarianism. 
Nay,  further,  the  author  deems  sectarian  schools  in- 
trinsically right,  although  they  are  usually  very  im- 
politic ;  and  M^hoever  sends  to  such  has  no  right  to 
complain  that  his  child  is  instructed  in  rites,  cere- 
monies, and  certain  orthodoxies  or  heterodoxies,  as 
the  case  may  be.  On  the  other  hand,  he  should  be 
surprised  if  all  this  is  not  done.  A  pledge,  indeed, 
may  be  given  or  implied  on  the  part  of  an  institu- 
tion known  to  be  sectarian  or  denominational,  that 
pupils  from  other  sects  or  denominations  will  not  be 
biased  either  directly  or  indirectly  towards  the  creed 
of  the  institution.  If  that  pledge  is  disregarded,  and 
any  systematic  endeavors  are  made  to  bias  the  pupils, 
there  is  fraud — nay,  something  deserving  a  harsher 
name.  That  school  should  be  destroyed.  It  can- 
not be  a  truly  religious  school,  that  employs  fraud, 
whether  pious  or  impious — its  religion,  like  itself,  is 
a  lie. 

From  the  preceding  chapters  it  is  moreover  man- 
ifest, that  the  prosperity  of  the  educational  cause 
depends  very  much  upon  the  parents  and  guardians 
of  children. 

Many  things  severe,  but  not  bitter,  in  this  work, 
have  been  said  relative  to  parents  and  guardians — 
not  in  a  spirit  of  anger,  but  of  faithfulness.  The  re- 
buke of  a  friend  is  better  than  the  kiss  of  an  enemy. 
The  great  and  holy  cause  of  education  depends  so 
essentially  on  correct  views  in  the  community ;  and 
errors  and  mistakes  are  so  numerous,  and  among 
the  best  of  men  ;  and  so  false  a  spirit  in  many  places 
prevails,  that  a  heart,  in  proportion  to  its  benevolence 


PERSONS  MOST  SUITABLE  FOR  TEACHERS. 


t>71 


and  earnestness,  is  prone  to  employ  pungent  words. 
Indeed,  a  dull  or  insensate  state  of  the  public  mind 
calls  for  ardent  and  penetrating  language  ;  and  the 
"  proud  flesh"  of  a  corrupt  community  requires  the 
caustic.  The  author  may  not  be  deemed  an  enemy 
because  he  tells  the  truth.  Gueat  injustice,  however, 
will  be  done  the  author,  if  his  remarks  in  this,  or  the 
foregoing  chapters,  are  applied  universally ;  and  if, 
in  many  districts  and  sections  of  the  States  and  the 
country,  they  are  applied  even  generally.  That 
they  will  not  be  applied  generally  in  some  places,  he 
knows  from  his  own  personal  acquaintance.  And 
yet,  it  is  believed,  the  application  should  be  made  far 
more  extensively  everywhere,  than  is  commonly 
supposed.  Without  scrupulously  weighing  and  meas- 
uring his  words,  the  author  begs  leave  without 
offence  to  add  a  few  other  general  observations,  rel- 
ative to  parents  and  guardians. 

It  is  important  that  these  have  adequate  concep- 
tion of  the  nature  hnd  importance  of  education. 
These  two  things  are  not  always  united  in  the  same 
mind.  Some,  honest  in  their  belief  oi'  the  paramount 
importance  of  education,  have  yet  no  true  views  of 
its  nature.  Of  consequence  they  are  liable  to  many 
and  serious  mistakes  in  their  attempt  to  educate  their 
children — mistakes,  almost  as  pernicious  to  the  cause 
of  education,  to  the  comfort  and  peace  of  the  teacher, 
as  when  children  are  sent  to  school,  merely  that 
they  may  be  kept  out  of  the  street  ! 

Where  no  regard  for  the  importance  of  education 
is  found,  there  is,  of  necessity,  utter  indiflerence  to 
its  character  or  nature.     Then  a  school   has  little 


272  CHAPTER    Vlf. 

use  beyond  its  being  a  place  in  which  children  are 
kept  out  of  harm's  way.  It  is  a  sort  of  nursery,  or 
an  honorable  prison  house.  The  master  is  a  species 
of  dry  nurse — a  pedagogue — a  keeper-in  of  boys — 
a  half-jailor  !  If  parents  happen  to  be  covetous  or 
inclining  to  mediocrity  of  life,  they  look  around  for 
the  cheapest  school — a  school  where  the  restraint, 
and  watching,  can  be  had  for  the  least  money — and 
anybody  seems  competent  to  keep  a  jail-school.  If 
they  are  fashionable  people,  or  careful  observers  of 
"what  the  world  says,"  then  they  look  out  for  a 
fashionable  school  and  a  popular  master  ;  and  if  they 
are  aristocratic  in  style,  sentiment,  and  pretension, 
then  they  seek  a  very  expensive  and  select  school. 

But,  in  all  this,  is  no  real  regard  or  respect  for  the 
teacher,  as  a  teacher.  Other  things  in  connection 
with  him  may  beget  respect,  such  as  general  char- 
acter, personal  appearance,  mental  qualities  ;  but  his 
preceptorial  character  is  never  considered.  He  is 
valued,  not  because  of  his  profession,  but  in  spite  of 
it :  without  the  accidents,  he  might  be  despised.  As 
it  is,  the  parents  now  meant  deem  it  a  condescension 
often,  when  they  hire  his  services ;  they  never  look 
towards  him  with  reverence  and  respect — they  only 
patronize  him  !  And  these  parents,  unless  restrained 
by  good  breeding,  or  by  conventional  customs, 
will  so  speak  at  home  and  in  company,  as  to  betray 
their  real  estimation  of  schools  and  schoolmasters. 
From  this,  children  and  young  persons  imbibe  the 
thoughts  and  sentiments  of  the  superiors,  and  soon 
show,  by  words  and  actions,  and  other  signs  not  to 
be  mistaken,  what  is  said  in  the  domestic  circle  and 


PERSONS   MOST  SUITABLE   FOR  TKACHERS.  273 

elsewhere.  Hence,  unless,  as  the  rabble  in  politics, 
the  children  are  awed  by  the  majesty  of  knowledge 
and  intellect  discernible  in  their  preceptor,  his  office 
itself  begets  contempt  in  them,  and  they  soon  become 
insolent  and  rebellious.  Children  at  school  are  al- 
most uniformly  the  true  exponents  of  the  parents 
and  guardians  at  home  :  the  skillful  and  experienced 
teacher  can  read  the  roots  from  the  radical  signs. 
Patronizing  parents  think  they  well  know  teachers  ; 
but  teachers  do  know,  when  they  study  the  children, 
e  sanguine  oriuntur!  These  parents,  regarding  a 
school  as  a  species  of  nursery,  are  content  if  the 
children  are  taking  the  education — as  they  took  the 
measles,  or  cow-pox — finely  !  If  this  goes  not  on 
smoothly,  another  pap-house  or  inoculation-house 
is  sought ;  while  the  former  is  decried  as  a  place 
where  the  master  likes  money  well  enough,  but 
does  not  understand  children  ! 

The  vital  importance,  however,  of  education  is 
deeply  impressed  as  a  sentiment  on  many  minds, 
where  yet  is  radical  mistake  as  to  its  nature. 

Of  this  class  of  persons,  some  are  willing,  at  least 
for  a  time,  to  leave  the  whole  business  with  the  teacher, 
not  because  of  any  clear  perception  of  the  truth,  but  of 
some  misty  views  of  its  necessity,  and  a  conviction 
that  they  themselves  cannot,  if  an  opportunity  of- 
fered, guide.  The  expectation  is  great ;  but  by 
what  process  the  educating  of  children  is  carried  on, 
or  liow  it  goes  on,  there  is  no  just  appreciation.  A 
certain  time,  longer  or  shorter,  is,  in  their  minds,  al- 
lotted for  the  transformation,  or  the  transmutation  ; 
and  beyond  that  period,  they  become  almost  inev. 


274  CHAPTER    VII. 

itably  suspicious  as  to  the  boy's  capacity,  thesy stem 
of  educating,  or  the  dihgence  and  capability  of  the 
teacher.  They  look  every  way  now,  except  the 
right  way — they  are  disappointed  because  they  had 
misjudged  ;  but  they  lay  the  blame  not  at  their  own 
door,  they  lay  it  at  their  neighbor's  !  Sick  men,  and 
sick  men's  friends,  occasionally  deem  weakness  and 
paleness  after  a  fever  unfavorable  tokens  :  so  these, 
when  a  boy  is  robbed  of  his  false  strength,  and  be- 
comes less  pert  and  loquacious,  and  more  timid,  im- 
agine sometimes  that  he  has  lost  his  smartness,  that 
books  have  repressed  his  growth  !  Hence,  if  confi- 
dence in  the  importance  of  education  is  not  lost,  con- 
fidence in  the  teacher  or  plan  is  gone  ;  and  so  the 
school  or  plan  is  changed. 

Others,  who  truly  value  education,  value  it  not  as 
a  whole,  but  in  its  parts.  Sentiments  here  are  varied 
by  a  thousand  prejudices  and  interests.  The  class 
may  be  sub-divided  into  two — the  one  in  favor  of  an 
english  course,  the  other,  of  a  language  course,  or^ 
as  usually  called,  the  classical.  The  latter  partial- 
ism,  for  it  is  nothing  more,  when  it  arrays  one  part 
of  education  against  another,  is  a  more  fortunate 
mistake ;  for  a  child  under  a  judicious  teacher  of 
language,  is  led  aright,  notwithstanding  the  error  of 
the  parents.  Still,  any  partialism  in  education  is  to 
be  lamented,  as  in  law,  medicine,  morals,  or  divinity. 
And  in  case  teachers  are  partialists,  as  well  as  the 
parents,  children  can  never,  save  by  accident,  be- 
come complete  scholars.  We  are,  however,  com- 
paratively rejoiced  at  lighting  on  a  community 
where  the  classical  course  is  the  fashion,  although 


PERSONS  MOST  .SUITABLE   KOR    TKACHEBS.  275 

views  of  the  modus  operandi  are  false.  There  usu- 
ally isjbund  more  patience ;  and  more  time  is  allowed 
for  a  teacher  to  do  right,  even  if  the  opinion  in  his 
favor  is  a  prejudice,  and  the  fortune  that  favors  him 
is  blind.  Indeed,  parents  here  often  become  rest- 
less, and  send  occasional  petitions  in  favor  of  drop- 
ping or  suspending  some  English  study,  and  simply 
because  they  are  partisans  of  Latin  and  Greek  ! 
But,  by  a  thousand  innocent  contrivances,  the 
teacher,  if  he  belong  not  to  the  unfortunate  class  of 
touchy  folk,  may  yet  work  into  this  partial  course 
some  good  amount  of  English,  if  not  a  quantum  svffi- 
cit ;  and  he  may  send  home  a  boy  a  better  scholar 
than  the  parents  designed.  And  this  not  rarely  de- 
lights, as  it  was  supposed  to  have  been  done  accord- 
ing to  the  recipe — the  Latin  and  Greek  pill  !    • 

Next  are  the  advocates  of  the  English  course. 
These  have  frequently  a  triumph,  because  boys  done 
on  the  other  recipe,  and  treated  according  to  the 
language  system,  often  fail  in  knowledge  of  common 
english  studies,  and,  for  a  while,  in  making  business 
men.  As  far  as  the  objection  lies  against  a  partial- 
ism  in  education,  it  is  valid.  Objections,  however, 
against  the  english  partialism,  are  more  numerous 
and  more  forcible  ;  and  thai,  not  from  the  quarter  of 
a  complete  education,  comprising  english  and  clas- 
sics, but  from  the  classical  course  as  a  mere  partinl- 
ism  itself.  The  english  advocates  are  often  liberal, 
philanthropic,  and  in  all  respects  good  and  worthy  ; 
yet  if  their  views  of  an  english  course  are  not  ex 
tensive,  they  incline  to  keep  children  in  an  endless 
iteration  of  the  same  elementary  studies.     And  iheir 


276  CHAPTER  VII. 

parents,  not  understanding  that  even  their  studies  at 
first  require  much  labor  and  diligence,  too  often  in- 
tercede for  a  decrease  in  the  length  of  tasks,  or  for  a 
less  inflexible  rigor  in  exacting  the  "  full  tale  of 
brick." 

But  the  number  that  values  education  for  special 
ends  is  vast.  By  some,  it  is  regarded  as  an  orna- 
ment ;  by  others,  as  a  means  of  acquiring  influence, 
honor,  wealth.  The  kind  and  extent  of  education 
depend,  then,  on  the  kind  of  influence  or  honor  val- 
ued by  the  parents ;  or  the  ornament  prized ;  or 
whether  riches  or  moderate  fortune  be  deemed  de- 
sirable. Every  selfish  end  determines,  in  some  de- 
gree, the  education.  Arithmetic  and  book-keeping 
are  sufficient  for  some  :  they  are  to  be  store-keepers. 
Others  may  learn  chemistry :  they  are  designed  for 
druggists,  or  perhaps  for  scientific  farmers.  This 
boy  may  learn  surveying,  that  he  may  always  as- 
certain, with  great  exactitude,  the  boundaries  of  his 
estate.  Here  and  there  one  wishes  Greek  enough 
for  medical  terms  ;  another  Latin,  for  law  books  and 
writs.  Some  parents  object  to  declamation  or 
speaking,  as  the  child  is  not  intended  for  public  life. 
Nay,  the  main  argument  against  many  valuable 
studies  is  with  many,  *'  We  see  no  use  in  them  !"  Man 
not  only  begets  a  son  in  his  own  likeness — he  con- 
trives to  make  him  keep  it ;  and  when  the  boy  reaches 
manhood,  he  sees  to  no  greater  extent  nor. more 
clearly  than  his  father. 

A  class  comparatively  small,  and  yet  a  very  large 
class  of  persons,  is  everywhere  found,  especially  in 
the  older  States,  who  have  true  and  just  views  and 


PERSONS  MOST  SUITABLE  FOR  TEACHERS 


277 


appreciation  of  the  nature  and  importance  of  edu- 
cation. With  them,  the  great  amount  of  valuable 
knowledge  necessarily  got  in  a  process  of  correct 
training  and  discipline  is  not  overlooked;  but  all 
studies  are  regarded  as  tools  and  implements  during 
an  elementary  course ;  although  some  such  studies 
may,  after  the  completion  of  the  whole  education, 
be  continued,  as  necessary  to  a  business  or  profes- 
sion, or  as  a  means  of  keeping  the  mental  powers  in 
activity  and  vigor.  Here  is  no  vulgar  preference ; 
no  mistaken  partialism ;  no  array  of  english  against 
latin  ;  of  literature  against  mathematics  ;  nor  of  the 
useful  against  the  ornamental.  Education  has  with 
them  a  value,  if  others  cannot  see  how  it  will  drive 
a  nail,  spread  manure,  make  a  pudding,  mend  a 
shirt,  or  darn  a  stocking.  These  see  how  a  well- 
ordered  and  well-balanced  mind  can  recreate  itself 
with  fine  and  ornamental  studies,  and  yet  be  never 
wanting  in  the  soberer  duties  of  life ;  and  how  a  piano 
interferes  not  with  a  wash-tub.  Such  persons  are 
also  patient.  They  know  a  boy  has  some  things  to 
unlearn,  as  well  as  some  to  learn  ;  and  that  a  desire 
of  studying  implanted  and  fostered,  and  a  habit  of 
studying  acquired,  is,  of  itself,  worth  a  large  price, 
although  no  knowledge  should  have  been  gained  in 
a  year. 

An  honest,  laborious  and  eminently  skilful  teacher 
may  have  taught  a  boy  the  art  of  studying  ;  he  may 
have  inspired  him  with  a  noble  resolution ;  and  the 
boy  is  now  ready  to  advance  in  his  studies  with  ra- 
pidity ;  but,  from  some  mere  whim,  or  impatience, 
the  misjudging  parent,  at  that  moment,  removes  the 
13 


278  CiJAl'TER    VTI. 

boy.  He  removes  hiin,  perhaps,  to  an  equally  good, 
but  not  infrequently  to  an  inferior  school,  where, 
however,  the  boy  makes  a  rapid  and  immediate  pro- 
gress, for  which  he  had  been  so  well  prepared.  The 
new  school  and  teacher  are,  of  course,  now  credited 
for  this  progress ;  while  the  former  school  and  its 
teacher  are  cruelly  and  unjustly  reported  as  un- 
skilful. 

A  very  general  error  prevails  among  parents  of 
every  sort — a  desire  that  children  should  finish  their 
elementary  training  at  too  early  an  age.  The  con- 
sequent mischiefs  are  many  and  great.  Indeed* 
some  are  fatal  to  mind  and  body.  A  legal  age  is 
indispensable  for  the  purposes  of  civil  life ;  yet  the 
civil  or  municipal  maturity,  is  not  necessarily  co- 
temporaneous  with  the  natural,  either  as  respects 
the  physical  or  mental  man.  Perhaps  the  purposes 
of  independent  action  and  business  require  twenty- 
five  as  the  period  of  majority  rather  than  twenty- 
one.  Manv  efforts  are  made  to  change  the  structure 
of  civil  society ;  this  we  conjecture  would  be  a  valu- 
able change  :  let  a  boy  be  kept  at  a  primary  school 
and  the  academy  till  he  is  nineteen  or  twenty — then 
in  college  till  he  is  two-and-twenty — and  then  let 
him  study  his  profession  or  his  trade,  till  he  is  twenty- 
five.  We  may  be  excused  more  minuteness  here, 
till  symptoms  appear  in  favor  of  the  change  ;  then 
we  could  be  more  prolix,  without  danger  of  weary- 
ing the  reader. 

A  change,  how^ever,  in  the  college  system  is  prac- 
ticable, and  not,  we  apprehend,  disadvantageous. 
Indeed,  as  the  academies  improve,  imless  the  studies 


PERSONS  MOST  SUITABLE   FOR  TEACHERS.  o-yg 

of  the  colleges  are  proportionally  raised,  the  chantre 
must  virtually  take  place.  In  most,  if  not  all  the 
colleges  in  the  United  States,  it  has  virtually  taken 
place  already.  It  ought,  however,  to  be  formally 
announced.  The  college  course  should  be  only 
two  years,  instead  of  four,  or  even  three.  The 
classes  should  be  only  the  Junior  and  Senior.  None 
ought  to  be  admitted,  then,  into  college  under  twenty 
years  of  age.  Colleges  are  designed  for  men  ;  boys 
and  youths  can  be  far  better  drilled,  and  better 
taught  the  sophomore  and  freshman  studies,  in  acad- 
emies. If  not  taught  them  in  academies,  pupils  are 
never  taught  in  colleges.  The  whole  plan  of  study- 
ing and  reciting  and  governing  in  college,  is  greatly 
different,  and  ought  to  be  greatly  different,  from 
these  things  in  academies.  The  intercourse  between 
students  and  professors,  is  almost  the  opposite  to  the 
intercourse  between  the  scholar  and  preceptor  in 
academies.  If  colleges,  therefore,  do  not  receive 
well-taught  and  well-disciplined  students  from  the 
academies  ;  and  if  they  pretend  to  carry  forward 
the  student  beyond  the  academical  course  and  in 
appropriate  college  style  ;  the  students  will  not  be  a 
whit  profited  if  they  remain  collegians  ten  years  in- 
stead of  four.  But  if  the  colleges  receive  well-drilled 
students,  they  can,  in  two  years,  do  a  thousand  fold 
better  than  now,  in  the  four  years'  course.  It  is 
owing  to  the  undisciplined  minds  of  college  students, 
that  in  so  many,  so  very  many  cases,  the  cc^llege  life 
is  a  total  loss,  nay,  worse  than  a  loss,  mentally,  mor- 
ally, physically  !  Adopt  the  proposed  plan,  and  col- 
leges   will    have    more    pupils,    because    the    time 


280 


CHAPTER     VII. 


would  be  short ;  and,  therefore,  the  tuition  fees  would 
amount  to  the  same  sum,  if  not  more.  Besides,  fewer 
tutors  would  be  needed ;  the  studies  all  being  of  a 
manly  and  advanced  sort,  would  demand  professors 
altogether.  In  some  colleges,  the  two  lower  classes 
are  mostly  instructed  by  tutors  ;  and  those  tutors  are 
generally  very  inferior  to  assistants  in  good  acade- 
mies. Some  of  those  tutors  are  scarcely  worth 
their  bread  and  butter.  How  much  more  noble  and 
dignified  a  college,  too,  whose  students  are  all  young 
men  !  How  inconsistent  with  the  true  nature  of  a 
college,  the  urchins  that  often  constitute  the  majority 
of  the  students  !  It  is  this  renders  it  easy  to  believe, 
that  an  academy  is  equal  to  a  college,  and  sometimes 
superior.  The  colleges  will  never  save  themselves 
by  stooping  down.  When  enemies  attack  them, 
friends  are  unable  to  defend.  Let  something  be 
done  consistent  with  their  nature  and  intention,  and 
honest  friends  will  do  battle  in  their  support :  if  they 
will  not  put  their  own  shoulder  to  the  wheel,  in  the 
mire  will  they  remain.  Let  us  have  true  colleges, 
and  we  will  try  and  uphold  the  collegiate  depart- 
ment of  education. 

In  the  new  plan  proposed,  young  men  would  seem 
to  be  losing  two  or  three  years  ;  but  it  would  be 
only  a  seeming  loss.  The  innumerable  evils  of  a 
hasty  preparation  in  most  cases,  and  of  no  prepara- 
tion in  many  cases,  would  all  be  avoided  ;  and  if 
two  years  were  apparently  lost  at  the  commence- 
ment of  a  civil  life,  the  whole  of  life  itself  would  be 
gained.  And  life,  in  this  sense,  is  usually  lost  now, 
by  the  present  system  of  education. 


PERSONS  MOST  SUITABLE  FOR  TEACHERS. 


281 


Well  do  we  know  that  many  young  men  cannot 
delay  if  they  would  ;  but  these  need  not  be  gradu- 
ated. The  academical  education  would  be  ample 
yet ;  and  that  is  better  by  far  than  these  persons 
now  obtain  usually  in  colleges.  Many  can  de- 
lay, however,  and  the  number  would  be  gradually 
increased.  For  these  we  now  write.  If  they,  after 
being  graduated  at  twenty-two,  studied  a  profession 
until  twenty-five  years  old,  quacks  of  every  kind 
would  be  contrasted,  and  not  compared,  with  the  regu- 
lar students  of  science.  The  superficial  attainments 
of  the  pretendedly  regular,  encourage,  invite,  em- 
bolden quacks.  Not  a  few  regular  students  and  pro- 
fessors seem  to  depend  as  slavishly  on  certain  rules 
and  formula?,  as  if  they  were  panaceas  and  nostrums  ; 
and  that  pertains  to  the  very  essence  of  quackery. 
The  latter  appeals  to  authority  not  more,  in  many 
cases,  than  do  the  former  when  they  understand  the 
exterior  nature  only  of  these  rules. 

In  regard  to  women,  the  author  is  entirely  con- 
fident that  their  education  is,  almost  universally,  so 
hurried,  as  to  be  little  more  than  nominal.  Where 
accomplishments  are  deemed  indispensable — and 
the  author  is  a  decided  advocate  for  most  accom- 
plishments— the  whole  education  of  women  is  very 
superficial. 

In  schools  eminently  good,  and  where  the  most 
learned  instructors  are  employed,  but  where  young 
ladies  are  graduated  at  sixteen  or  eighteen,  the  edu- 
cation, in  the  nature  of  things,  if  considered  as  a 
complete  education,  embracing  all  the  studies  ex- 
hibited in  the  prospectus,  must  be  a  superficial  edu- 


282 


CHAPTBR    Vll. 


cation.  The  mind  cannot  have  received  all  sup- 
posed to  be  furnished.  We  repeat,  that  a  gallon  of 
fluid  cannot  be  compressed  into  a  quart  measure, 
without  the  destruction  of  the  vessel.  Lives  are 
constantly  sacrificed,  in  the  vain  attempts  at  the 
forcing  system.  The  folly  of  this  system  has  ever 
been  acknowledged  as  regards  men :  why  is  it 
not  confessed  with  regard  to  women  ?  One  answer 
to  this  must  be  looked  for  in  that  preposterous  and 
unnatural  conventional  practice  of  considering 
young  ladies  at  eighteen  as  marriageable  women. 
All  the  reasons  of  this  practice  need  not  be  men- 
tioned ;  one  is  obvious  and  sufficient — the  prema- 
ture period  assigned  for  commencing  the  civil  life 
of  men.  The  limit  for  woman's  civil  life  would  at 
once  be  farther  removed,  if  that  of  man's  were 
changed.  Make  it  fashionable  to  regard  a  woman 
as  a  girl  till  she  is  twenty,  and  her  education  may 
be  more  profound  and  complete,  without  being  less 
extensive.  But  if  this  be  impracticable  ;  then  hu- 
manity, and  religion,  and  policy  all  cry  out,  and 
say  : — '*  Let  woman's  education  be  less  extensive 
and  more  perfect."  Hence,  while  institutions  grant- 
ing diplomas  to  girls  are  very  imposing,  they  are 
also  a  little  farcical.  They  can  be  no  more  than  a 
certificate  that  the  girl  has  tripped  lightly  over  a 
very  large  field  ;  but  not  that  she  is  learned,  in  any 
fair  sense  of  that  term.  If  it  be  intended  to  say^ 
that  her  education  is,  in  any  good  degree,  as  to  ex- 
tent or  depth,  similar  to  that  of  a  college,  in  the 
proper  use  of  the  word,  it  is  an  imposition  ;  if  it  be 
intended  to  say,  that  the  diploma  is  for  an  inferior 


PERSONS  MOST  SUITABLF,'  FOR  TEACHERS. 


283 


degree,  then  let  it  not  be  called  a  diploma — a  name 
specially  appropriated  to  what  is  higher  in  charac- 
ter. The  exact  truth  is  of  vital  importance  in  every- 
thing pertaining  to  education.  Already,  the  lines  of 
demarcation  are  effaced  between  kindred,  and  yet 
separate  and  distinct  parts  of  education.  Confusion 
is  the  result  of  these  follies ;  and  education  has  be- 
come a  jumble  and  a  contradiction.  Here,  as  else- 
where, the  agrarian  and  extreme  democratical  prin- 
ciple is  at  work,  not  of  design,  but  in  obedience  to 
the  spirit  of  the  age.  Perhaps,  when  this  spirit  has 
wrought  out  an  intolerable  evil,  it  will,  corrected 
and  chastened  by  the  consequent  suH'ering  and  dis- 
appointment, be  ready  to  lay  the  foundation  anew  ; 
and  then,  will  be  "  a  place  for  everything,  and  every- 
thing in  its  place." 

To  parents,  guardians  and  trustees  would  we  re- 
spectfully, but  most  earnestly,  recommend,  that  as 
far  as  possible,  they  should,  when  the  fact  can  be 
ascertained,  prefer  as  teachers  men  that  make  teach- 
ing their  profession,  and  who  are  determined  to  be- 
come finished  artists ;  and  the  decidedly  religious  to 
the  merely  moral ;  and  lastly,  ever  and  without  hes- 
itation, that  they  should  reject,  and  with  indignation, 
the  infidel,  or  the  immoral  man.  These  have  no 
right  to  be  practical  educators :  belief  in  the  Chris- 
tian religion  and  good  morals  are  essential  qualities 
of  the  practical  educator. 

It  would  be,  indeed,  both  unjust  and  ungenerous 
to  intimate  that  persons  who  intend  making  a  school 
the  stepping-stone  to  what  they  deem  a  higher  em- 
ployment ;  or  who,  for  any  other  reason,  intend  to 


281  CHAPTER    VII, 

teach  but  for  a  short  season  ;  that  these  are  not  gen- 
erally worthy  men,  and  to  some  extent  competent 
and  successful  teachers.  And  yet  many  things  con- 
join to  render  men  who  are  devoted  for  life  to  the 
employment,  still  more  competent  and  successful. 
These  have  besides  from  that  very  choice  a  superior 
and  prior  claim.  Hundreds  of  distinguished  per- 
sons now  in  the  pulpit,  at  the  bar,  in  the  senate,  or 
in  the  counting-house,  would  have,  out  of  choice» 
and  from  a  sense  of  duty,  remained  teachers,  had 
they  perceived  themselves  and  their  profession  prop- 
erly appreciated  and  rewarded.  They  are  lost  to 
the  cause  of  practical  education,  because  parents  did 
not  duly  appreciate  them.  Let  the  world  say,  we 
will  have  teaching  a  science  and  teachers  artists  ; 
we  will  not  allow  mediocrity  here,  more  than  in 
other  sciences  and  arts  ;  our  children  shall  be  trained 
and  disciplined  by  the  learned,  the  talented,  the  dig- 
nified, the  skilful ;  our  primary  schools,  academies, 
and  colleges,  shall  rise  in  glory  and  majesty  all  over 
the  land,  even  as  temples  to  God  ;  we  will  esteem 
learning  and  discipline  next  to  religion,  and  teach- 
ers next  to  the  ministers  of  our  most  holy  religion  ; 
and  then  shall  a  body  of  men  exist  and  be  increased 
in  our  land,  worthy  all  praise,  reward  and  admi- 
ration. 

That  some,  who  make  teaching  an  intermediate 
affair,  are  deplorably  deficient  in  every  essential  re- 
quisite of  an  artist,  is  too  true.  It  is  natural  that 
this  should  be  the  case.  Some,  moreover,  engage 
ia  teaching,  under  a  false  impression  that  it  is  an 
easy  life  !     We  may  well  pity  the  man  who  makes 


PERSONS   MOST   SUITABLE  KOR   TEACHERS.  285 

it  an  easy  life  ;  his  account  will  be  a  melancholy  one 
— nearly  as  much  so,  as  that  of  the  minister  "who 
finds  little  to  do,  and  does  that  little  badly  !  Even 
idle  men,  if  otherwise  learned  and  competent,  ought 
not  to  be  chosen  as  teachers. 

A  parting  word  to  associates  in  teaching,  will 
conclude  this  chapter. 

Our  office  is  honorable  and  important.  But  much 
depends  on  ourselves  to  make  it  thus  in  the  estima- 
tion of  the  world.  We  may  compel  men  to  think 
and  speak  of  the  profession  with  due  respect.  That 
is  a  good  rule  :  "Would  a  man  appear  in  any  char- 
acter ? — be  that  character."  Yet,  if  men  are  ever 
so  intrinsically  worthy,  and  are  still  seemingly 
ashamed  of  their  employment,  that  is  reason  suffi- 
cient for  the  world  to  despise  the  office.  If  a 
teacher  seem  to  undervalue  his  profession,  men  may 
respect  and  revere  him,  but  they  will  lament  that 
he  should  have  thrown  himself  away  upon  an  un- 
suitable or  undignified  employment. 

Not  infrequently,  when  a  person  of  evident  talents, 
of  ready  and  brilliant  wit — a  man  that  commands 
the  attention  of  an  intellectual  and  polished  com- 
pany— when  he  has  passed  into  a  diffi?rent  I'oom,  or 
withdrawn  from  the  company,  leaving  a  delighted 
assembly  to  regret  his  departure  ;  some  stranger,  in 
answer  to  a  query  relative  to  the  gentleman,  re- 
ceives a  whispered  answer,'  with  something  like 
sorrow  in  the  responding  voice  ;  "  He  is  a  teacher  !" 

Often,  too,  in  written  articles  in  newspapers  and  ma- 
gazines, when  necessary  mention  is  made  of  certain  im- 
portant persons — important,  for  talents,  discoveries, 


286 


aiArxER  vu. 


station,  or  other  causes,  a  hurried  and  apologetical  ref- 
erence is  made  to  his  present  or   former  "  school !' 
and  not  rarely,  hopes  are  expressed  that  the  person 
may  soon  find  a  more  fitting  field  of  usefulness,  and 
theatre  of  display  !  ! 

Are  not  teachers  themselves,  in  a  measure,  blame- 
worthy for  this  misapprehension,  and  this  imperti- 
nent, although  ignorant,  apologizing  and  lamenta- 
tion ?  If  we  be  truly  what  we  should  be,  and  our 
profession  in  its  science  and  art  be  what  we  know  it 
to  be ;  then  why  not  always,  when  proper,  speak 
and  write  about  this  profession,  and  act  in  regard  to 
it,  as  if,  in  our  estimation,  it  was  the  noblest  or  next 
to  the  noblest  ofRce  on  earth  ?  It  may  be  severe, 
and  yet  it  is  just  to  say,  that  a  man  really  ashamed 
of  the  teacher's  office,  is  unworthy  that  office :  per- 
haps real  shame  here  is  inconsistent  with  profound 
learning — it  certainly  is,  with  acute  discernment 
and  benevolence.  Some,  indeed,  not  really  ashamed, 
may  yet  out  of  delicacy  seem  ashamed,  on  certain 
occasions,  who,  when  a  necessity  arose,  would  yet 
dare  to  magnify  the  office  ;  but  that  false  shame 
argues  a  conviction  in  our  minds,  that  the  public  do 
not  appreciate  our  office  aright.  This,  however,  is 
the  very  reason  why  we  should  ever  magnify  the 
office.  Society  needs  correction  and  instruction  on 
this  very  point.  Like  a  chamelion,  society  takes  its 
color  and  tone  from  a  few  leading  men  :  teachers 
could  easily  change  its  complexion  and  sentiment, 
respecting  education  and  its  artists. 

Our  profession  is,  in  many  parts  of  the  world, 
owing  to  the  wide-spread  and  profound  ignorance 


PERSONS   MOST  SUITABLE  FOR  TEACHERS.  287 

of  the  people,  liable  to  a  peculiar  quackery,  which 
may  be  called  pedagogueism.  And  as  many  chil- 
dren are  to  be  educated,  many  pedagogues  will  be 
found.  Like  other  fooleries  they  equal  the  demand. 
But  they  stamp  on  education  and  its  science  a  brand, 
which  gives  a  false  idea  of  their  true  nature.  This 
takes  place  in  medicine,  law,  divinity  ;  and  if  the 
caricaturists  of  these  sciences  continued  as  long 
after  the  greater  civilization  and  enlightenment  of 
the  community,  as  do  the  caricaturists  of  our  pro- 
fession, their  science  would  be  as  much  under- 
valued. A  community  is  not  so  soon  nor  so  easily 
disabused,  respecting  education  ;  and,  therefore,  our 
profession  is  often  in  comparative  contempt,  long 
after  the  other  professions  have  attained  their  due 
elevation  in  the  public  estimation. 

The  cure  of  this  unavoidable  evil  is,  in  a  mea- 
sure, to  be  found  in  our  being  just  to  ourselves  ;  but 
parents  and  trustees  can  do  much  if  they  will  uni- 
formly prefer,  when  the  two  come  into  competition, 
the  professor  to  the  amateur.  If  an  amateur  is 
needy,  better  make  him  up  a  purse.  If  he  wishes 
to  amuse  himself,  he  may  find  recreation  in  less  sol- 
emn things — schools  are  for  holier  and  better  pur- 
poses. 

Legislative  aid,  on  whatever  principle  bestowed, 
should  never  be  given  where  incompetent  teachers 
are  employed.  Dullness  and  ignorance  here  should 
be  punished,  not  rewarded.  As  to  pedagogues, 
they  should  be  set  in  the  stocks.  Perhaps,  whilst 
the  laws  of  libel  admit  no  facts  in  justification  of 
censure,  and  severely  punish,  not  the  rogue  Imt  the 


288 


CHAPTKR    VU. 


rogue's  enemy,  quackery,  pedagogueism,  and  trick- 
ery of  every  kind,  will  rule  and  run  triumphant. 
Morbid  sympathy  and  licentious  liberty  are  on  the 
side  of  crime  and  cheatery.  Law  forbids  a  man  to 
get  for  his  money  any  but  an  interest  fixed  by  the 
State,  under  plea  of  protecting  the  people  from  usu- 
rers ;  but  law  gives  up  the  people  thus  defended  from 
a  probable  evil  to  be  gulled,  tricked,  cheated,  hum- 
bugged without  stint  and  without  mercy,  making  it 
penal  for  the  good  and  honest  and  intelligent  to  ex. 
pose  the  liars  and  rogues  who  are  amassing  fortunes 
beyond  the  dreams  of  even  Jewish  money-lenders. 

Finally,  gentlemen  associates,  be  untiring  in  dili- 
gence, enthusiastic  in  soul;  look  onward  and  up- 
ward. We  have  a[noble  cause ;  we  are  a  mighty 
body  :  let  us,  in  the  fear  of  God,  and  for  the  love  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  the  love  of  men,  train  our  disciples 
in  the  way  they  should  go,  and  send  them  forth  our 
living  epistles,  open,  and  to  be  read  of  all  men:  let 
us  in  this  manner  specially,  but  also  in  all  other 
suitable  ways,  and  on  every  suitable  occasion,  mag> 
nify  our  office. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 


TO    THE    YOUNG. 

Human  life  may  be  divided  into  three  stages  : 
youth,  middle  life,  old  age.  Measuring  by  the  time 
that  we  are  under  the  authority  of  parents  and  of 
opinion,  youth  may  extend  from  the  period  after  in- 
fancy to  the  vigor  of  manhood  ;  terminating  about 
the  thirtieth  year.  Here  begins  middle  life.  This 
period,  determined  by  delects  of  mind  and  body 
ordinarily  then  visible,  and  by  timidity  relative  to 
new  enterprises,  and  the  despondency  then  manifest, 
ends,  perhaps,  with  our  fil'ty-fiftli  year — lasting,  con- 
sequently, about  five-and-twenty  years.  The  third 
period,  old  age,  now  begins.  This,  under  suitable 
regimen,  would  usually  cease  with  the  extinction  of 
life  at  threescore  and  ten  ;  but  it  is  commonly,  by 
criminal  abuse  and  negligence,  ended  five  or  ten 
years  earlier  than  the  assigned  and  natural  limit. 

Viewing  man  as  born  for  others  as  well  as  for 
himself,  as  constituting  part  of  a  divinely  consti- 
tuted and  organized  social  state,  or  of  a  state  neces- 
sarily and  inevitably  resulting  from  physical  and 
mental  organization,  youth  may  he  regarded  as  an 


290  CIIAITER    VIII. 

age  of  preparation,  and  middle  life  an  age  of  activ- 
ity. For  it  is  then  only,  in  the  middle  state,  when 
the  powers  of  our  nature  have  all  been  properly 
disciplined,  the  passions  controlled,  the  appetites 
curbed,  forbearance  practised,  and  prudence  exer- 
cised, that  we  are  ready  to  serve  our  generation  in 
the  orderly  and  full  discharge  of  every  duty. 

A  few  excepted,  prematurely  worthless,  all  young 
persons  anticipate  a  time  when  they  shall  mingle  in 
the  busy  scenes  of  the  world  ;  not  as  mere  men  and 
women,  or  spectators  at  a  show,  but  to  act  their 
several  parts  as  husbands,  wives,  parents,  rulers, 
teachers  ;  a  time,  when  they  shall  share  in  its  enter- 
prises and  honors,  no  longer  humble  imitators,  but 
themselves  the  models  ;  not  the  servants  but  the 
masters  of  opinion ;  directing,  not  impelled  by  the 
spirit  of  the  age. 

It  becomes,  hence,  to  the  young,  an  obvious  and 
liighly  important  inquiry  :  '"What  preparation  can 
best  fit  us  for  one  main  end  of  existence,  the  benefit 
of  our  generation  ?  and  how  shall  we  become  ade- 
quate to  the  discharge  of  all  our  duties  with  dignity 
and  success  ?"  A  brief  answer  will  be  given  in 
this  chapter. 

In  the  production  of  grand  effects,  not  the  opera- 
tion of  a  single  cause,  but  the  combined  and  harmo- 
nious operation  of  several,  may  be  traced.  Thus 
in  moral  or  political  life,  good  depends  not  on  mere 
talent,  or  genius,  or  enterprise,  or  industry  ;  it  de- 
pends on  the  union  of  all  these.  Indeed,  good  very 
frequently  depends  not  even  on  the  union  of  any  ac- 
tive causes:  it  depends  rather  on  caution,  patience, 


TO  TllK  YUU.NG. 


291 


disinterestedness.  Sometimes  it  depends  on  cessa- 
tion from  all  attempts  and  labors.  Men  very  often 
must  be  enlightened,  soothed,  entreated,  led  ;  and 
that  for  their  advantage.  Here,  then,  we  need  all 
our  passive  and  scarcely  any  of  our  active  virtues. 

The  main  preparation,  therefore,  for  youth  is  a  dis- 
cipline of  restraint  and  self-denial. 

Knowledge  may  not  be  undervalued.  Without 
adequate  knowledge,  no  complete  discharge  of  duty 
can  ever  occur  ;  yet  while  the  acquisition  of  knowl- 
edge is  one  end  of  study  in  schools,  the  young  need 
more  to  be  taught  self-government,  self-knowledge, 
self-respect,  and  consequent  habits  and  qualities. 
Differences  in  success  are  by  no  means  so  much  at- 
tributable to  differences  in  learning,  as  to  differences 
in  caution,  prudence,  forethought,  self-control,  and 
similar  habits  ;  and,  indeed,  it  is  in  such  habits  and 
qualities,  that  boys  differ  from  men,  and  not,  as  is 
commonly  imagined,  in  talents,  genius,  and  even  ac- 
quirements. As  to  mere  literary  efforts,  the  man 
often  does  not  surpass  the  young  person. 

Tlie  prophet  Jeremiah  has  embodied  an  important 
sentiment  in  these  words  :  "  It  is  good  for  a  man  that 
he  bear  the  yoke  in  his  youth."  Doubtless  refer- 
ence is  here  made  principally  to  alllictions  ;  but, 
since  afflictions  are  advantageous  mainly  in  produ- 
cing self-denial,  self-government,  and  self-knowledge, 
the  prophet's  words  may  be  extended,  and  without 
violence,  to  comprehend  any  other  discipline  pro- 
ductive of  like  results.  As  the  neck,  therefore,  of  a 
stubborn  or  rebellious  ox  is  bowed  down  under  a 
yoke,  and  his  vast  strength  thus  rendered  subservi- 


292  CHAPTER    Vlll. 

ent  to  the  master's  purposes,  so  must  young  persons 
be  subjected  to  wholesome  and  severe  discipline, 
that  they  may  best  subserve  the  designs  of  a  benev- 
olent Creator  in  forming  men  social  beings. 

Young  persons  must  be  subjected,  first,  to  the 
yoke  of  a  severe  and  laborious  moral  and  intellect- 
ual training. 

We  repeat,  that  simply  or  mainly  to  impart 
knovi^ledge,  is  not  the  sole  end  of  judicious  instruc- 
tion. Were  it  possible,  which  it  is  not,  properly  to 
train  the  mental,  the  moral,  and  the  physical  nature, 
and  impart  no  knowledge,  one  thus  disciplined  is 
better  qualified  for  the  duties  of  middle  life,  than 
another  of  boundless  knowledge  and  yet  of  an  un- 
disciplined mind  and  heart.  A  man  that  can  use  a 
few  dollars  properly,  is  superior  to  an  idiot  with  the 
estate  of  a  prince.  The  art  of  acquiring,  arranging, 
and  applying  knowledge — the  art  of  thinking,  rea- 
soning, concluding — the  art  of  prompt  acting  on  oc- 
casions and  in  emergencies — these  most  difficult  and 
delicate  arts,  are  the  true  ends  of  intellectual  and 
moral  training.  Hence  the  instruments  of  the  dis- 
cipline are  often  with  safety  laid  aside,  after  an- 
swering their  uses ;  although,  where  the  duties  of 
middle  life  allow,  educated  men,  as  well  as  all  pro- 
fessional scholars,  will  be  fully  compensated,  by  con- 
tinuing and  extending  their  acquaintance  with  the 
classics  and  mathematics.  And  for  these  many 
books  are  highly  valuable,  which  are  of  little  impor- 
tance, or  even  detrimental  as  school-books. 

The  young  persons  addressed  in  this  chapter  are 
in  a  measure  free  from  parental  authority,  and  their 


TO    THE    YOUNG. 


293 

education  is,  in  some  degree,  in  their  own  hands. 
Some,  perhaps,  have  even  to  commence  their  own 
education.  But  happily,  that  kind  of  education 
which  is  most  valuable,  depends  on  ourselves ;  and, 
in  some  respects,  all  men  must  be  self-educated. 

It  is,  truly,  a  pitiable  thing  to  hear  so  many  young 
people  lamenting  the  want  of  schools  and  teachers, 
and  favorable  opportunities,  when  we  can  all  do  so 
much  for  our  own  improvement ;  and  not  a  few  can 
do  immeasurably  more  for  themselves  than  the  vast 
majority  of  common  schools  can  do  for  them.  Pay- 
ing for  many  schools  is  like  paying  for  a  ride  in  a 
canal  boat,  and  then  leading  the  horses  on  the  tow- 
path  :  the  scholar  might  have  staid  at  home,  except 
for  the  name  of  going  to  school. 

If  young  persons  would  seriously  set  about  the 
work  of  self-instruction,  (where  good  schools  are 
not  found,  or  where  not  possible  to  attend  a  school,) 
even  with  poor  materials,  helps,  and  instruments, 
they  would  be  surprised,  at  length,  by  their  progress 
in  all  that  is  valuable,  and  at  the  success  with  which 
they  had  overcome  seemingly  inviiu'if)le  obstacles. 
Let  such  always  remember,  that  it  is  not  the  mere 
acquisition  of  knowledge  they  should  have  in  view, 
but  the  exercise  of  their  minds.  Hence,  if  after  se- 
vere study,  we  fail  to  comprehend  fully,  we  have 
still  gained  the  grand  end  of  effort — practice  in 
thinking.  This  exertion  itself,  made  and  repeated 
again  and  again,  is  of  countless  price  :  this  state  or 
habit  of  soul,  thus  dearly  bought,  will,  under  more 
favorable  circumstances,  which  always  in  time  hap- 


294  CHAPTER    VII  r. 

pen,  enable  us,  at  once,  to  master  the  most  difficult 
subjects. 

Let  the  young,  therefore,  begin  with  fit  subjects 
of  discipline,  subjects  within  their  reach,  and  in  the 
best  way  they  can  ;  let  them  persevere,  and  as  abil- 
ity and  knowledge  increase,  let  them  extend  and 
systematize  their  labors,  correct  their  errors,  avail 
themselves  of  all  accessible  aids,  and  we  shall  see 
them^  all  happier,  and  not  a  few  raised  to  the  high- 
est walks  of  life  ;  and  this  in  spite  of  their  want  of 
common  schools,  or  even  academies.  Perhaps  some 
may  wish  us  to  recommend  studies.  Among  disci- 
plinary studies,  we  recommend  arithmetic,  mainly 
the  mental ;  algebra,  the  mathematics  generally ; 
natural  and  mechanical  philosophies ;  latin,  greek, 
french,  german,  and  other  modern  languages  gram- 
matically studied  ;  the  English  classics,  such  as  Ad- 
dison, Shakspeare,  not  as  a  mere  writer  of  plays,  Mil- 
ton ;  political  economy  ;  mental  and  moral  philoso- 
phy ;  composition  ;  above  all,  the  Bible.  Add,  evi- 
dences of  Christianity. 

One  reason  for  condemning  works  of  mere  fiction 
is  now  evident.  To  such  works,  as  far  as  ordinary 
readers  are  concerned,  are  many  objections  :  their 
tendency,  designedly  or  undesignedly,  is  usually  im- 
moral ;  they  vitiate  the  taste  ;  they  mis-inform  ;  they 
give  false  and  exaggerated  views  of  individuals, 
presenting  mere  fancy  pictures  or  sketches  of  aggre- 
gated virtues  and  vices  ;  they  defile  the  imagination 
and  inflame  the  passions  ;  they  weaken  the  sense  of 
duty  ;  they  beget  a  disgust  of  life  as  it  is,  of  daily 
and  common  life.     But  the  grand  objection  at  pres- 


TO    THE    YOUNG. 


295 


ent  urged  is,  that  such  works  are  not  sufficiently 
difficult  for  studies  ;  they  are  designed  ahiiost  solely 
for  amusement.  Where  young  persons,  therefore, 
are  seeking  to  improve  themselves,  and  especially 
where  there  has  been  little  previous  cultivation,  and 
all  the  time  and  money  are  needed  for  better  pur- 
poses, to  these  we  give,  as  a  deliberate  advice,  that 
they  instantly  collect  and  burn  every  novel  and  ro- 
mance in  their  possession  ;  nay,  further,  let  this  class 
of  young  people  at  the  end  of  their  year,  discontinue 
those  newspapers  whose  sole  or  leading  recommend- 
ation is — "  original  and  selected  stories  and  tales." 
Freely  do  we  admit  that  some  of  these  are,  in  all 
respects,  unexceptionable  ;  that  we  have  ourselves 
read  some  that  are  worthy  all  praise  for  elegant 
diction,  ingenious  plot,  moral  tendency :  but  as 
freely  do  we  affirm  that  by  far  the  great  majority  is 
poor  in  all  respects,  and  of  no  good  tendency  ;  and, 
that  many  are  in  every  point  of  view  contemptible, 
and  meriting  a  place  in  no  publication  making  pre- 
tensions to  a  literary  or  moral  character. 

But  we  cannot  study  always.  Recreation  is  ne- 
cessary to  the  digestion  of  mental  and  corporeal 
food.  Some  things,  too,  cnn  be  learned  from  obser- 
vation only,  and  testimony.  It  is  important  to  con- 
template models  in  the  discharge  of  duties,  public 
and  domestic.  We  must  long  float  with  the  tide  <if 
opinion,  before  we  may  venture  successfully  to  stem 
it.  In  short,  for  innumerable  reasons,  society  is  ne- 
cessary to  us ;  and  no  pleasures  are  more  exciting 
than  those  of  companionship.  And  yet,  it  is  here 
that  the  young  are  in  imminent  danger  of  losing  the 


296 


CHAPTER    VIIl. 


whole  advantage  of  private  discipline,  and  of  con- 
tracting habits  fatal  to  expected  success.  To  them 
is  no  safety,  except  in  good  society.  Without  that, 
they  would  be  better  without  any. 

Good  society  is,  indeed,  apparently  severe  in  its 
external  appearance.  Hence  the  young  rarely  seek 
such,  regarding  it  a  hindrance  to  hilarity  and  pleas- 
ure ;  but  if  we  seriously  desire  improvement,  we 
must  be  found  in  good  company.  With  such  let  us 
ride,  walk  or  play  ;  let  us  see  paintings,  or  hear  mu- 
sic ;  let  us  attend  elections,  or  engage  in  innocent 
amusements,  or  do  any  lawful  thing  :  and  then  oc- 
casions innumerable  will  arise,  of  asking  advice  and 
hearing  opinions  on  religion,  poHtics,  literature,  the 
fine  arts  and  sciences,  and  of  obtaining  hints  and  di- 
rections on  important  pursuits  and  studies.  We 
shall  find  a  thousand  knotty  difficulties  solved,  and 
perplexing  intricacies  unravelled ;  see  many  living 
exemplars  of  written  rules ;  and,  finally,  among  other 
benefits,  become  strengthened  in  correct  conclusions, 
and  rectified  in  erroneous  ones. 

Is  it  asked,  what  is  good  company  ?  Without 
negative  description,  we  reply  :  by  good  society  is 
here  meant,  the  best  educated  and  disciplined  ;  the 
most  moral,  prudent,  sober  and  religious.  Good  so- 
ciety is  yet  better  composed  of  both  men  and  women. 
Nor  is  the  contemptible  frivolity  of  many  mixed 
companies  valid  objection  to  this  remark ;  because, 
if  women  were  generally  educated  as  this  work  ad- 
vocates, we  are  fully  persuaded  no  society  could  be 
so  pleasant,  so  honorable,  so  elevating,  as  that  in 
which  educated  women  formed  a  part.     Well  edu- 


TO    THE    YOUiNG.  ^97 

cated  women  could  not  form  a  part,  where  men  vi- 
cious, rude  and  foolish  obtained,  or  even  expected 
admission.  Elevate  women,  and  we  elevate  our- 
selves. Policy,  as  well  as  duty  and  generosity,  de- 
mand the  complete  education  of  women.  Hence, 
women  should  be  educated  as  men  are,  as  far  as  is 
practicable. 

Let  it  not  be  said,  good  society  is  hard  to  be  found . 
It  exists  on  a  larger  or  smaller  scale  in  every  com- 
munity. Nor  is  it  impossible  to  gain  admittance; 
for.  while  this  society  has  its  necessary  barriers  and 
restraints,  like  any  other  society,  it  has  none  other 
than  utility,  virtue,  patriotism,  and  religion  itself, 
impose  ;  and  it  would  voluntarily  open  its  bosom  for 
the  reception  of  the  young,  being  grieved  by  their 
refusal,  and  not  by  their  attempt,  to  enter. 

There  is  one  yoke  the  young  must  wear,  if  they 
would  be  useful  in  middle  life — the  yoke  of  temper- 
ance. 

Intemperance  from  intoxicating  drinks,  alas  !  so 
common,  is  doubtless,  from  that  circumstance,  the 
first,  and  with  many  of  our  readers,  perhaps,  the 
only  species  of  intemperance  supposed  to  be  meant. 
Prevalent  as  this  horrible  vice  is,  what  wonder  so 
many,  so  very  many,  should  against  this  rock  dash 
all  hopes  of  peace,  usefulness,  and  honor  ?  The 
grand  and  sometimes  the  sole  lesson  to  the  young  is 
— "  to  drink."  To  this  they  are  welcomed  with 
smiles,  and  wheedled  by  flattery  !  are  assured  that 
to  drink  fearless,  is  one  evidence  of  an  independent 
soul  and  generous  disposition.  The  houses  they 
visit,  the  hotels  that  refresh  them,  the  stores  where 


298  ClIAPTKK    Mil. 

they  deal,  the  places  of  their  recreation  ;  the  men 
that  frame,  and  the  men  that  execute  law  ;  the  phi- 
losopher, the  patriot  ;  alas  !  in  some  cases  the  di- 
vine ;  even  woman  with  mis-applied  entreaties  ; — 
yes,  the  very  fathers  on  whose  knees  they  have 
sported  in  infancy,  and  the  very  mothers  from  whose 
bosoms  they  have  drawn  life — these,  all  these,  in  a 
thousand  ways,  mix,  and  dilute,  and  sweeten,  and 
render  fragrant  with  spices  and  sparkling  with 
beauty  the  bowl — the  accursed,  damned  bowl  !  to 
overcome  distaste,  to  subdue  shame,  to  abate  fear, 
to  lull  conscience,  to  make  the  young  abandoned,  in- 
fatuated, Heaven-daring  sinners.  No  wonder  that 
young  men  who  have  been  redeemed  from  the  hor- 
rible abyss  shudder  as  they  look  back  !  No  wonder 
bereaved  parents,  mourning  over  the  lost,  look  up 
to  Heaven  and  ask  vengeance  on  the  destroyers  ! 

We  stay  not  to  prove — all  know — examples  are 
everywhere  around — all  know,  how  drunkenness 
debilitates  the  body,  poisons  the  breath,  enervates 
the  soul,  brutalizes  the  appetites, — yea,  transforms 
man  into  a  brute  and  a  beast !  Alas  !  too  well  we 
know,  that  drunkards,  should  they  reach  the  middle 
life,  become  objects  of  pity  to  the  good,  of  scorn  to 
the  proud,  and  of  grief  to  friends — mere  examples  of 
warning  and  beacons  of  danger  to  the  sober ;  and 
how,  at  last,  the  groaning  community  feels  in  a 
measure  relieved,  when  the  bloated  and  unseemly 
carcasses  are  covered  in  the  grave  ! 

Temperance — nay,  rigorous  abstinence  from  what 
intoxicates,  must  be,  therefore,  practised  by  the 
young.     Still,  this  single  species  of  temperance  is 


TO    THE    YOUNG.  299 

not  the  sole  form  now  recommended.  Our  desires, 
our  appetites,  our  passions,  must,  in  the  use  and  en- 
joyment of  things  lawful  and  innocent,  be  studiously 
moderated  ;  because,  among  many  other  reasons, 
this  self-denial  and  control  are  the  means  of  afford- 
ing health,  time,  money,  and  spirits  for  our  studies, 
and  is  itself  a  paramount  design  of  self-discipline. 
Would  we  insure  success  ?  be  temperate  in  all 
things — in  eating,  in  apparel,  in  recreation,  in  study- 
ing, in  the  enjoyment  of  good  society  itself  Thus 
shall  we  be  well  fitted  for  the  duties  of  middle  life, 
and  obtain,  during  our  disciplinary  state,  the  highest 
degree  of  self-satisfaction  and  peace. 

Not  a  little  from  experience  and  more  from  oij- 
servation,  and  also  from  the  nature  of  the  divine 
economy  in  the  government  of  the  world,  the  au- 
thor is  satisfied,  that  the  preceding  general  direc- 
tions, although  few,  must  and  will,  if  faithfully  fol- 
lowed, place  a  man,  in  after  life,  upon  high  and  com- 
manding ground  among  the  virtuous  and  the  honora- 
ble. But,  if  we  would  be  more  certain  of  success, 
and  especially  if  we  aspire  to  rewards  nobler  than 
the  emoluments  and  honors  of  place,  and  approba- 
tion of  men  ;  if  we  would  be  had  in  everlasting  re- 
membrance— and  distinguished  remembrance — af- 
ter mere  W(jrldly  great  men  shall  have  been  forgot- 
ten;  then  must  we,  in  youth,  wear  the  easy  yoke  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ's  moral  and  intellectual  dis- 
cipline. Without  that  yoke  men  may.  by  other  dis- 
cipline, become  extensively  usefid.  and  ol)t;iin  mer- 
ited honors  and  respect.  God  permits  us  to  gain  the 
rewards  we  voluntarily  propose.    But,  if  we  would, 


300  CHAPTER   Via. 

in  addition  to  the  perishing,  gain  the  immortal  re- 
wards, nay,  if  we  would  be  certain  of  the  perishing 
ones,  let  us  become  submissive  and  joyous  disciples 
in  the  school  of  Christ. 

There  is  a  means  of  discipline  not  found  in 
schools,  nor  in  books,  nor  voluntarily  chosen  by  any 
one — a  discipline  unpleasant  to  all,  but  specially  so 
to  the  young — a  discipline,  however,  without  which 
no  character  becomes  perfect,  and  which,  bitter  in 
the  root,  is  sweet  in  the  fruits — we  mean  affliction. 

Whatever  be  the  mental  powers  and  acquisitions, 
the  personal  dignity  and  comeliness,  the  adventitious 
circumstances,  a  man  needs  severe  lessons  to  trans- 
form his  nature :  he  must  know  himself.  Self- 
conceit  must  be  eradicated,  haughtiness  humbled, 
impatience  subdued,  presumption  chastised,  watch- 
fulness aroused,  indolence  punished,  selfishness  dis- 
carded. To  accomplish  all  these  tasks — each  an 
herculean  labor — affliction  is  the  only  competent  dis- 
cipline. That  is  God's  blessed  mode  of  instructing 
his  own  children. 

Yet  affliction  will  effect  no  good,  unless  we  are 
patient  and  observant  of  the  ends  and  uses.  Prop- 
erly regarded,  they  are  a  blessing  ;  improperly,  a 
curse.  Let  the  young,  therefore,  in  all  disappoint- 
ments, or  deluded  hopes,  or  sickness,  or  poverty,  or 
reproach,  or  bereavement,  or  sorrows  of  any  sort, 
be  well  assured  that  a  merciful  and  wise  Creator  is 
thus  showing,  not  merely  his  anger  at  sin,  but  his 
wish  to  discipline  men  for  the  noble  purposes  of  the 
social  state  and  the  rewards  of  the  future. 


TO    THE    YOI'.VG. 


301 


Nothing  but  a  severe  and  long-continued  disci- 
pline of  every  kind  can  prepare  the  young  for  the 
middle  life.  For  want  of  this,  men  encounter  only 
disappointment  and  chagrin.  Without  it,  in  pre- 
sumptuous haste  they  engage  in  schemes  imprac- 
ticable, or  beyond  their  capacities,  or  demanding 
more  skill  and  prudence  than  they  possess ;  hence, 
after  a  few  unavoidable  defeats,  they  yield  to  oth. 
ers,  inferior  often  in  native  talents,  but  superior  in 
tact,  forethought,  and  patience. 

Happy  if  the  defeated  could  retire  to  their  now 
narrow  sphere  with  a  good  grace.  On  the  othei 
hand,  retiring  with  feelings  of  mortified  pride  and 
vanity,  they  sink  down  to  the  lowest  level,  and 
there  vent  malignant  spleen  against  persons  deemed 
fortunate  ;  and  strive  to  drag  these  hated  ones  down 
with  blackened  characters.  This  is  a  constant  sight. 
Without  any  gift  of  prophesy  we  may  foretell,  that 
unless  the  renovating  Spirit  of  God  mercifully  pre- 
vent the  necessary  consequences  from  his  own 
abused  laws,  the  idle,  the  lounging,  the  trifling 
young  persons  must  descend  down  the  scale  of  hon- 
orable reputation  to  the  class  of  snarling  and  cap- 
tious maligners :  or  at  best,  to  the  class  of  instru- 
mental slaves,  to  be  used  and  ordered  according  to 
the  wisdom  and  will  of  the  well-disciplined. 

How  noble  a  well-disciplined  youth  !  Contrast 
with  him  a  youth  of  the  opposite  kind  :  the  first  is  sober 
and  cheerful,  the  second  frivolous ;  the  one  culti- 
vates the  soul,  the  other  pampers  the  body ;  the 
former  lives  for  his  fellows,  the  latter  for  himself 
The  disciplined  person  is  lord  of  his  appetites  and 
14 


3Q2  CHAPTER    vin. 

passions ;  the  undisciplined  is  the  slave  of  their 
clamorous  demands.  In  a  word,  the  one  does  every- 
thing that  lifts  him  up  towards  the  angels;  the 
other,  everything  that  thrusts  him  down  towards  the 
devils. 

Disciplined    youth  prolongs  the  period  of  middle 
life  far  into  the  period  of  old  age. 

Proper  care  of  the  body  and  the  avoidance  of  all 
excesses  make  the  human  frame  more  lasting  ;  but 
the  mental  discipline  advocated  now  retards  the 
imbecility  of  old  age  ;  and  it  will,  perhaps,  always 
prevent  that  kind  of  weakness  called  dotage  and 
second  infancy.  It  is  a  well-attested  fact  in  our 
history,  that  the  mind  fails  prematurely  because  of 
its  disuse  ;  and  the  mind  must  be  disused  in  old  age, 
if  one  have  not  in  youth  acquired  habits  of  thinking 
and  studying.  Much  learning  in  cases  of  physi- 
cal disease  may,  possibly,  have  made  some  "wad/* 
but  beyond  a  doubt,  the  want  of  learning  has,  in 
old  age,  when  the  activity  of  the^middle  life  is  over, 
rendered  many  a  person  insane.  Many  literary 
men,  by  preserving  studious  habits  to  the  last,  have 
reached  extreme  old  age  with  the  perceptible  loss 
and  decay  of  no  mental  power.  A  few,  from  chance 
or  indolence  having  discontinued  their  studies,  have 
exhibited  symptoms  of  premature  weakness  and 
idiocy. 

What  a  blessed  old  age,  when  a  person  has  sub- 
mitted to  the  yoke  of  discipline  in  youth  !  By  that 
the  has  been  able  to  discharge  with  honor  and  satis 
action  to  himself  so  many  duties  profitable  to  his 
fellow-men.     By  that  he  has  nobly  won  the  venera- 


TO  THE   YOUN«. 


303 


tion  always  paid  to  a  hoary  head,  after  a  well-spent 
life.  How  calm  the  evening  of  such  a  life  !  How 
unlike  the  picture  of  gloom  falsely  thought  to  belong 
necessarily  to  declining  years !  The  body  may 
grow  old,  but  the  soul  may  be  kept  in  a  youthful 
vigor  and  cheerfulness,  till  earth  is  exchanged  for 
heaven. 

But  if  a  person  has  lived  aright,  and  has  worn 
the  yoke  of  Christian  discipline,  how  blessed,  not 
merely  the  retrospect  of  the  past,  but  the  anticipa- 
tion of  the  future  !  what  ineffable  joys  in  contempla- 
ting the  assured  reward — a  crown  of  glory  and 
honor  !  and  while  he  has  a  heart  to  accomplish  yet 
many  good  things  for  his  generation,  how  he  longs 
for  the  coming  of  a  messenger,  ghastly  and  terrific 
to  the  faithless,  but  to  the  wise  and  watchful  serv- 
ant, an  angel  of  mercy,  smiling  and  welcome  ! 

Such,  youthful  readers,  are  some  leading  direc- 
tions in  answer  to  our  proposed  inquiry  ;  such  are 
a  few  of  many  advantages  flowing  from  the  disci- 
pline advocated  in  this  whole  book.  What  shall  be 
the  effect  of  the  whole  upon  yourselves?  We  fain 
would,  but  we  dare  not  hope  all  will  be  benefitted. 
Mournful  experience  of  the  almost  invincible  levity 
and  presumptuous  arrogance  of  too  many  young 
people,  forbids  that  hope — nay,  bids  us  expect  some- 
times derision  and  scorn  ! — and  that  where  we  hon- 
estly mean  to  do  them  good. 

Is  it,  however,  too  much  to  hope  that  some  of  our 
readers  will  become  fixed  and  immoveable  in  good 
resolutions  ?  Surely  some  do  soberly  look  at  their 
weighty   responsibilities  ;  surely  some  are  burning 


3Q4  CHAPTER   VIII. 

with  a  sacred  ardor  to  discharge  with  honor  and 
success  the  grand  and  solemn  duties  of  Hfe  ;  surely 
some  are  captivated  by  the  picture  of  moral  gran- 
deur pertaining  to  the  disinterested  performance  of 
duties,  and  to  the  dignified  demeanor  of  Christian 
meekness  under  the  ingratitude  of  the  wicked  and 
thankless  ;  surely  some  abhor  being  drones  in  the 
poHtical  hive,  or  mere  tools  for  the  use  of  others,  or 
instead  of  standing  out  in  bold  relief  amidst  the  ar- 
chitecture of  society,  becoming  hateful  excrescences 
on  the  body  politic,  to  be  cut  off  by  public  senti- 
ment, or  by  loss  of  liberty,  or  perhaps  by  the  sword 
of  justice !  It  must  be,  some  are  looking  onward  to 
the  realities  of  old  age,  and  desiring  then  the  retro- 
spect of  a  well-spent  life,  and  the  joyous  expectation 
of  a  life  to  come  ! 

By  all  these  lofty  and  holy  purposes ;  by  the  de- 
mands of  the  coming  generation,  destined  to  be 
either  better  or  worse  from  your  conduct ;  by  the 
preciousness  of  our  liberties,  bought  with  blood — 
liberties  to  be  transmitted  to  posterity  by  your  vir- 
tues and  knowledge,  or  lost  by  your  vices  and  igno- 
rance ;  by  the  majesty  of  a  nature  fitted  for  duty 
and  the  endurance  of  suffering  and  trial ;  by  the 
baseness  and  cowardice  of  sloth  ;  by  all  the  peace 
and  joy  that  gladden  the  otherwise  cheerless  days 
of  old  age  ;  by  your  desires  of  finding  comfort  in 
death ;  by  your  regard  of  the  Supreme  Judge,  who 
shall  say  at  the  final  day  to  his  faithful  sons,  "  Well 
done,  enter  ye  into  the  joy  of  your  Lord,"  and  to 
faithless  servants,  "  Depart,  ye  accursed  ;"  by  all 
these  momentous  considerations,  the  author  exhorts 


TO    THE    YOUNG  395 

and  implores  the  young  who  read  this  work,  to  put 
on  and  submissively  wear  that  yoke  of  discipline 
and  obedience  which  inspiration  teaches,  and  all  ex- 
perience confirms,  it  is  good  for  a  man  to  bear  in  his 
youth. 


FINIS. 


VALUABLE    BOOKS, 

PUBLISHED  AND  FOR  BALE   BY 

BAKER  &  SCRIBNER, 

BRICK  CHURCH  CHAPEL, 

PROMTINQ   ON    145    NASSAU   ST.  AND   36    PARK   ROW, 
NEW  YORK 

CHARLOTTE    ELIZABETH'S    WORKS. 

UnifonnEdition,l3vols.  12mo.  $6  50. 

CHARLOTTE  ELIZABETH'S  JUVENILE  WORKS. 

(Not  included  in  the  above  13  vols.)  8  vols.    l8mo.    ^3  00. 

We  have  received  numerous  commendatory  notices  of 

our  edition  of  Charlotte  Elizabeth's  "Works,  from  the  religious 

papers  of  all  denominations  of  Christians  in  this  country, 

and  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  have  not  supplied  themselves 

with  her  books,  we  insert  here  a  few  which  are  believed  to 

be  a  fair  specimen  of  the  opinions  of  the  secular  press,  i 

"  Mrs.  Charlotte  Elizabeth  Tonna  is  one  of  the  most  gifted,  popular, 
and  truly  iustruetive  writers  of  the  present  day.  In  clearness  of  thought, 
yariety  of  topics,  richness  (if  imagery,  and  elcijance  of  expression,  it  id 
scarcely  too  much  to  nay,  that  sho  is  the  rival  oi"  Hannah  3Iore,  or  to  pre- 
dict that  lier  works  will  be  as  esteusively  and  profitably  read,  as  thosa 
of  the  most  delightful  female  writer  of  the  last  generation.  All  hec 
writings  are  pervaded  by  justness  and  purity  of  sentiment,  and  tha 
highest  reverence  for  monility  and  religion;  and  may  safely  be  com- 
mended as  of  the  highest  lateicst  and  value  to  every  family  in  the  land." 
—Morning  NetDS.  • 

"  Charlotte  Elizabeth'a  works  have  become  so  universally  known,  and 
are  so  highly  and  deservedly  appreciated  in  this  country,  that  it  has  be- 
come almost  superfluous  to  mention  them.  We  doubt  exceedingly 
Whether  there  has  been  any  female  writer  since  Mrs.  Hannah  Mor«, 
whose  works  are  likely  to  be  so  extensively  and  so  profitably  read  aa 
hers.  She  thinks  deeply  and  accurately,  is  a  great  analysist  of  the  hu- 
man heart,  and  withal  clothes  her  thoughte  in  moBt  apiiropriate  and  do- 
i]uent  language." — Albany  Argus.  i! 

"  These  productions  constitute  a  bright  relief  to  thcoormpting  liten^j 
ture  in  which  our  age  is  so  prolific,  full  of  practical  instruction,  iUustr*j 
tive  of  the  beauty  of  Protestant  Christianity,  and  not  the  less  abounding 
in  catertaiaing  descriptlgu  and  narrative."— /oMmui  qf  Comnuru^ 


Charlolte  Elizabeth's  Works. 

PERSONAL  RECOLLECTIONS,  1  toI, 

HELEN  FLEETWOOD,  " 

JUDAH'S  LION,  " 

JUD/EA  CARTA,  " 

THE  SIEGE  OF    DERRY,  " 

LETTERS  FROM  IRELAND,  " 

THE  ROCKITE,  " 

FLORAL  BIOGRAPHY,  " 

PRINCIPALITIES   AND  POWERS,  " 

ENGLISH  MARTYRS,  " 

PASSING  THOUGHTS,  " 
I ZR  A  M,  a  Mexican  Tale,  OSRI C,  a  Missionary  Tale," 

CONFORMITY,  l  » 

THE  CONVENT  BELL,  a  Tale,  J 
GLIMPSES  OF  THE   PAST,  cr  the  Museum.    « 

PHILIP   AND  HIS  GARDEN,  " 

THE  FLOWER  OF  INNOCENCE,  " 

THE  SIMPLE  FLOWER,  " 

ALICE   BENDEN,  and  other  Tales,  " 

FEMALE  MARTYRS,  " 

TALES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS,  " 

DRESSMAKERS   AND  MILLINERS,  " 

THE  FORSAKEN   HOME,  " 

THE   LITTLE  PIN-HEADERS,  " 

THE  LACE   RUNNERS,  " 

LETTER  WRITING,  " 

BACK  BITING,  " 

PROMISING  AND  PERFORMING,  " 

THE  PEEP  OF  DAY, 

Or  a  Series  of  the  earliest  Religious  instruction,  the  Infant 
Mind  is  capable  of  receiving,  with  verses  illustrative  ol 
;    the  subjects,  1  vol.  l8mo,  with  engravings.    %Q  50. 

LINE  UPON  LINE, 

By  the  Author  of  "  Peep  of  Day,"  a  second  series,  $0  50. 

PRECEPT  UPON  PRECEPT, 

By  the  author  of  "  Peep  of  Day,"  etc.,  a  third  series,  SO  50. 
!•  This  is  probably  the  best  and  most  popular  series  of  Juve- 
nile Books  evfcr  published.  The  publishers  refer  with  the 
most  entire  confidence  to  all  parents  and  teachers  who  have 
introduced  these  books  into  their  families  or  schools,  who 
■who  will  testify  as  to  the  useful  and  correct  religious  inscruo' 
tion  wMch  they  co&taln. 


mo. 

ft  60 

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25 

HOME  STORIES, 

BY  CHARLES  BDEDETT. 

THE   ADOPTED  CHILD, 

Or  the  necessity  of  Early  Piety,  by  Charles  Burdett,  the 
author  of  "Emma,  or  the  Lost  Found."  1  vdL  8vo: 
31  cents. 

LILLA  HART, 

A  Tale  of  New  York,  by  Charles  Burdett,  author  of  the 
"Adopted  Child,"  "Chances  and  Changes,"  &c,,  &c 
1  vol.  18mo.    50  cents. 

THE  CONVICT'S  CHILD, 

By  Charles  Burdett,  author  of  "  Lilla  Hart,"  "  Adopted 
Child,"  (tec.,  &c.     1  vol.  18mo.    50  cents. 

"  We  have  receiyed  frcyn  the  author,  another  number  of  the  series  of 
'  Home  Stories,'  as  he  well  calls  them,  which  for  two  or  three  years  past 
he  has  been  giving  to  the  public.  Few  series  of  the  same  character  have 
been  received  with  i^eater,  or  with  equal,  popular  favor.  They  aim 
chiefly  to  rfo  g'oorf, — to  call  public  attention  to  some  of  the  many  evila 
Which  afllict  society,  and  to  awaken  in  the  heart  sympathy  for  those 
upon  whom  they  fall.  They  are  uniformly  written  in  a  racy  vignrouB 
though  sometime.'?  careless  style,  and  evince  an  active  and  acute  obser- 
ration^  as  well  as  the  higher  qualities  of  fancy  and  iniapinafion.  The 
Btory  IS  always  interesting — the  cbaracters  well  drawn,  and  the  narra- 
tive well  calculated  to  rivet  attention,  which  is  fully  rewarded  by  fia 
excellent  moral  and  religious  lessons  the  writer  aims  t«  teach."— .^.  Y, 
Courier  and  Enquirer. 

"  It  is  clear  that  Mr.  Burdett  has  told  many  a  tale— were  it  otherrrlM 
he  could  not  have  told  the  t.ale  of  the  Convict's  Chilil  in  the  way  that  he 
has  done  it.  We  would  not  believe  that  this  book  is  a  narrative  of  t*ct8 
if  so  credible  a  man  as  the  author  had  not  a.'isiired  ns  it  is  even  so,  and 
were  we  not  convinced  that '  truth  is  stranger  than  fiction.'  Those  who 
want  to  enjoy  a  luxury  of  tears  may  realize  their  wishes  by  following 
the  fortunes  of  Alida,  the  Convict's  Child.  The  story  makes  on  Unpre- 
tending little  volume." — Southern  Christian  Advocate. 

"The  moral  of  this  little  story  is  highly  commcnd.alilc,  and  its  style  la 
characterized  by  simplicity  and  absence  of  pretension.  Ulustrntive  of 
some  of  the  crying  evils  of  social  life,  growing  out  of  ill-founded  pre- 
judices against  the  offspring  of  wicked  parents,  its  plain  but  touching 
exposition  of  the  subject  must  tend  to  correct  so  great  a  wrt>ng.  Such 
works  induce  a  better  spirit  in  society  for  those  unfortunates  who  are 
either  endangered  in  their  tender  years  by  that  very  jarental  care  which 
Providence  designed  for  a  blessing,  or  are  left  withnut  any  watchful  eye 
to  disoover,  and  careful  hand  to  gu.ard  them  ofjaiiul  tb«  ttutAtenlfig 
taroa4«  «f  rice,"— jPro<»t(MU  ClwrcAman 


THE  CONVICT'S  CHILD.— by  charle3  burdett. 

"This  little  Toliime  r^rtakes  of  the  general  character  of  the  8erie« 
Iti  special  aim  is  to  show  the  conseqiieiiccs  of  the  general  tendency  on 
the  part  of  the  public  tu  '  visit  the  sins  and  crimes  of  parents  upon  chU< 
dren,  no  matter  how  innocent,  no  matter  how  pure  or  virtuous.'  Tha4 
this  tendency  is  general, — that  it  causes  an  immense  amount  of  suffer- 
ing,—entirely  unmerited,— and  that  it  should  be  remedied,  all  readily 
admit; — and  we  certainly  know  no  way  in  which  a  better  state  of  public 
feeling  upon  the  subject  can  be  more  effectually  produced,  than  by  the 
circulation  and  perusal  of  such  volumes  as  this.  It  is  exceedingly  in- 
teresting,— well  written,  and  will  certainly  be  widely  read.  We  cordially 
commend  it  to  the  attention  of  all  our  readers.  It  will  well  repay  the 
attention  which  it  so  strongly  attracts.  It  is  very  neatly  published  by 
Messrs.  Baker  &  Soribner,  at  145  Nassau  street."— A''.  S.  Courier  arid 
£nquirer. 

"Messrs.  Baker  &  Scribuer,  New  York,  have  published  a  gmall 
volume,  neatly  bound  in  embossed  muslin,  entitled  The  Convict's 
Child.  The  author  is  Charles  Burdett,  Esq.,  who  has  for  sometime  past 
devoted  his  attention  to  the  production  of  a  very  excellent  series  of  little 
works,  the  object  of  which  is  mainly  to  inspire  a  belter  feeling  in  the 
community  towards  those  whose  poverty  or  want  of  proper  instruction 
leads  them  to  the  commission  of  errors,  of  which  they  would  undoubt- 
edly be  giiiltless  if  the  smallest  helping  hand  were  extended  towards 
them  by  those  whose  condition  of  life  is  more  elevated.  The  stories  ot 
'Lilla  Hart,'  '  The  Adopted  Child,'  &,c.,  by  this  bencfolent  writer,  were 
veil  received  by  the  public ;  and  it  is  hoped  the  present  volume  will 
meet  with  similar  favor.  The  occupation  of  the  author— that  of  Re- 
porter to  one  of  the  best  newspapers  in  the  country— has  brought  him 
oftentimes  to  witness  occurrences  to  which  others  are  strangers.  The 
scenes  which  he  describes  are  drawn  from  life,  and  the  incidents  tru«i, 
although  they  may  seem  strange." — Baltimore  American. 

CLEMENT  OF  ROME, 

A  Legend  of  the  Sixteenth  Century,  with  an  introduction  by 
Prof;  Taylor  Lewis;     1  vol.  18mo;    63  cents; 

"  This  is  a  story  of  marked  and  continued  interest,  and  presents  some 
fine  traits  of  early  Christian  character,  rendered  more  brilliant  by  being 
associated  with  contemporary  Grecian  and  Roman  life.  It  is  introduced 
to  public  notice  by  Taylor  Lewis.  He  regards  it  as  a  correct  and  beau- 
tiful delineation  of  the  Christianity  of  the  first  century,  and  besides  as 
Taluable,  for  the  faithful  representation  it  gives  of  Roman  manners." — 
Albany  Spectator. 

"  In  saying  that  this  is  a  work  of  Action  we  must  explain  ourselves. 
In  order  to  realize  to  the  mind  the  interesting  occurrences  of  the  first 
century,  Mrs.  J.  has  attempted  to  eke  out.  by  a  fruitful  imagination,  the 
facts  which  are  barely  glanced  at  in  the  New  Testament  and  other  early 
writings;  and  has  accomplished  her  daring  task  with  such  an  air  of 
probability— and  such  a  dramatic  effect,  as  cannot  fail  to  involve  the 
reader  in  the  utmost  interest.  The  author  had  doubtless  read  cerlain  of 
Bulwer's  novels  and  Shakspeare's  Historical  Tragedies— she  is  cert.iinly 
familiar  with  Tacitus  and  Suetonius,  and  also  with  Eusebius,  Socrates 
and  other  early  Christian  writers.  From  these  authors  she  derives 
the  historical  facts  that  constitute  the  main  buUding,  which  she  adorns 
«o  tastefully  with  tbs  beautiful  festwnery  Qf  her  inventiye  genius."— 
i^cvthern  Cfuistian  Oivotate. 


iTHE  ANTIQUITIES  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH, 

Translated  and  compiled  from  tlie  worlcs  of  Augusti,  with 
numerous  additions  from  Rheinwald,  Siegel,  and  others ; 
By  the  Rev.  Lyman  Coleman,  1  vol.  8vo.    $2  50. 

COMPLETE  WORKS  OF  REV.  DANIEL  A.  CLARK. 

adited  by  his  son  James  Henry  Clark,  M.D.,  with  a  bio- 
graphical sketch,  and  an  estimate  of  his  powers  as  a 
preacher,  by  Rev.  George  Shepard,  A.M.,  Professor  of 
Sacred  Rhetoric,  Bangor  Theological  Seminar)',  2  vols. 
8vo,    $4  00. 

D'AUBIGNE   AND   HIS  WRITINGS, 

With  a  Sketch  of  the  Life  of  the  Author,  by  Rev.  Robert 

Baird,  D.D.,  1  vol.    12mo.    half  bound.    SO  50. 

Do.  do.        do.  cloth.      $0  C3. 

"  The  widespread  and  deserved  popularity  of  the  prcat  work  of  D'Ao- 
bifftie,  on  the  Keform.ition,  has  very  naturally  created  an  Intercat  in 
everything  whicu  lias  proceeded  from  his  pen,  or  relates  to  him  person- 
ally.  His  discourses  and  smaller  works,  which  have  been  translated  and 
republished  in  this  country,  bear  evident  marks  of  a  common  paternity 
■with  the  Great  Keforniation;  and  that  is  praise  enouf»h.  Tliere  is  tho 
eame  purity  and  hijth  order  of  thought — the  same  engrossing  interest— 
and  the  same  directness  and  vigor  of  expressiou."— A/ioca  ChronicU. 

THE  LIVES  OF  THE  APOSTLES  OF   JESUS  CHRIST. 

By  D.  Francis  Bacon,  1  vol.    8vo.    ^3  00. 

"  This  work  has  now  been  for  more  than  ten  vears  before  the  pnblic : 
and,  although  many  thousand  copies  have  been  scattered  abroad,  yet 
thousands  have  never  seen  it,  to  whom,  if  possessed  by  thcin,  it  could 
not  but  prove  of  inestimable  value.  It  is  the  result  of  many  years  of 
deep  research,  and  patient  investigation  of  works  of  various  kinds,  in 
dilferent  languages,  which  bear  upon  the  lives  of  the  Apostles.  Inde- 
pendent of  containing  a  clear  and  vivid  delineation  of  the  lives  of  mem- 
bers of  the  Apostolic  cullege,  this  volume  has  other  claims  npnn  us.  It 
presents  not  only  a  oomi)letc  hi.story  of  the  early  Church,  but  throws 
much  light  on  the  meaning  of  the  sacred  text;  the  whole  written  with- 
out ambiguity,  and  in  so  simple  a  style,  as  to  adapt  itself  to  every  clas» 
of  readers.  The  edition  before  us,  by  Uaker  and  .Scribncr,  is  a  be.autiful 
one,  and  must  command  an  extensive  sale.  It  can  be  obtained  at  any  ot 
onr  bookstores." — Albany  Spectator. 


OBLIGATIONS  OF  THE  WORLD  TO  THE  BIBLE. 
By  Gardiner  Spring,  U.  D.    1  vol.  12  rao.    31. 


ESSAYS  ON  THE  PROGRESS  OF  NATIONS, 

In  productive  Industry,  Civilization,  Population,  and 
Wealth  J  illustrated  by  Statistics  of  Mining,  Agriculture, 
Manufactures,  Commerce,  Banking,  Revenues,  Internal 
Improvements,  Emigration,  Mortality  and  Population,  by 
Ezra  C.  Seaman. 

"  We  have  already  spoken  quite  fully  in  commendation  of  thia  work, 
ytthave  said  less  than  its  merits  deserve.  It  is  a  most  truthful  and  in- 
structive work,  which  should  find  a  place  in  our  Village  and  School 
Libraries,  and  be  studied  by  every  fireside.  All  men  in  a  republic  should 
pos.sesa  some  knowledge  of  at  leiist  the  elements  of  Political  Economy, 
and  yet  how  few  really  do  possess  it!  A  vague  instinct  of  self-interest, 
a  few  cherished  views  and  some  rude  notion  of  what  experience  has  taught 
—these  compose  the  sum  of  what  is  known  of  Political  Economy  by  the 
Tast  majority.  The  ponderous  volume  in  which  the  science  ('.)  is  taught 
are  usually  inaccessible  to  the  mass  of  readers,  and  scarcely  intelligible, 
if  at  hand  ;  to  say  nothing  of  the  radical  errors  which  run  through  mosfr 
of  them.  Mr.  Seamen's  work  will  be  readily  understood  by  any  one,  and 
none  can  read  it  without  acquiring  broader  and  juster  views  of  nationsl 
policy  and  a  wise  public  economy." — N.Y.  Tribune. 

"  The  work  so  justly  char»terized  in  the  «>bove,  copied  from  the  Tri- 
bune, is  for  sale  by  [Messrs.  Baker  &  Scribner.j  It  is  in  truth  a  worUf 
of  great  research,  honest  and  convincing  in  its  expressions  of  opinion, 
and  admirably  calculated  by  its  array  of  incontrovertible  facts,  to  dis- 
pel the  many  eirroneous  and  mischievous  notions  of  mere  theorizing 
political  econcmists.  We  warmly  commend  it  to  public  favor,  as  a  book 
Of  great  interest  tuai  utUity." — Commercial  Advertiser,  Buffalo. 

A  Letter  to  the  Author  Jrwrn,  Hon.  Millard  Fillmore.  ' 

Buffalo,  September  28,  1846. 
_  Dear  Sir  :  I  bars  only  found  time,  amidst  the  pressure  of  profes- 
Bional  engagements,  to  re*d  a  few  chapters  of  your  "  Essays  on  tlie  Pro' 
gre$s  of  Nations,"  but  I  have  read  enough  to  satisfy  me  that  it  is  a 
Tery  valuable  publicatioTi,  and  that  it  brings  within  tte  reach  of  every 
man  a  vast  store  of  useful  information,  as  to  the  progrcAs  of  agriculture 
and  the  arts  among  mankind,  which  can  be  found  nowhere  else  in  so  con- 
densed and  cheap  a  form.  Your  sound  views  of  politic.\t  fccnomy  ard 
sustained  by  statistical  details  which  serve  at  once  to  illustvate  the  sub- 
ject and  carry  conviction  to  the  mind. 

I  am  also  gratified  to  perceive  that  the  book  is  free  from  pol--t^'<!al  cant 
and  partizan  bias,  and  wish  a  copy  .luight  be  placed  in  the  hands  oi  every 
enligitened  citizen.     Respectully,  yours, 

E.  C.  Seaman,  Esa.  MILLARD  FILLMOKE. 

THE  ELEMENTS  OF  ASTRONOMY, 

Designed  as  an  Introduction  to  the  Study.  1  voL  18ko. 
25  cents. 

REFLECTIONS  ON   FLOWERS, 

By  James  Hervey,  author  of  "  M.3ditaXions  among  the 
Tombs."     1  vol.  l8mo.    31  cts, 

EMANUEL    ON  THE  CROSS  AND    W  THE  GARDENs 

By  R.  P.  Buddicom.    1  vol,  liCiao.    63  cts. 


SLAVERY  DISCUSSED  IN  OCCASIONAL  ESSSAYS, 

From  1833  to  1816,  by  the  Rev.  Leonard  Bacon,  D.  D., 
Pastor  of  the  first  Congregational  church,  New  Haven, 
Conn.    1  vol  l2mo,    75  cents. 

"  This  Tolame  contains  Bome  of  the  calmest  and  ablest  essays  on  th« 
vexed  question  of  Slavery  we  have  ever  met  with.  The  writer  is  one 
or  tna  Uiippy  few  who  have  been  able  to  examine  it  dispassionately,  and 
the  general  circulation  of  his  views  cannot  faU  to  do  much  good  amon* 
all  classes  of  readers.  As  will  be  seen  from  the  title,  the  essays  lovera 
Bumcient  space  to  embrace  nearly  ail  the  phases  the  question  has  un- 
dergone, and  01  course,  being  written  honestly,  display  gome  diversity 
or  opinion,  but  as  a  whole  they  ore  remarkably  congruous."— £u/7"ato 
CominercuU  Advertiser.  Jo  ^ujjums 

THE  LIFE  AND  VOYAGES  OF  AMERICUS  VESPUCIUS, 

With  illustrations  concerning  the  Navigator  and  Discovery 
of  the  New  World,  by  C.  E.  Lester  and  Andrew  Foster; 
1  vol.  8vo.    S'2  50. 

"  The  subject  of  this  work  is  suffiaient  of  itself  to  attract  and  intereaft 
every  American.  Iheman  who  gave  name  to  this  great  western  con- 
tinent can  never  be  f  .rgotten.  The  volume  before  us  is  not  the  produc- 
Uon  of  a  few  short  d.iys  ;  it  has  occupied  months  of  labor  and  research. 
Many  old  manuscripts  in  Italian,  Spanish  and  German  bearing  on  bia 
iife  and  voyages,  have  been  carefully  examined  ;  and  all  the  large  librv 
incs  in  this  country  have  been  searched  for  collections  relative  to 
the  great  dtscorcrer—a.  title  which  many  will  not  award  to  him.  For 
much  of  the  value  of  the  work,  and  for  the  translations  of  interesting 
letter.-,  the  public  .ire  indebted  to  Mr.  Foster,  of  Boston,  to  whom  the 
original  foreign  M.SS.  and  letters  were  committed  for  transl.-ition.  It  u 
written  in  that  flowing  and  attractive  style  which  characterizes  all  Mr. 
J^ester  s  productions,  and  cannot  fcul  to  hare  aa  exteasiTe  circulation."— i 
Albany  Spectator. 

THE   ARTISTS  OF  AMERICA, 

Dlustrated  with  nine  engravings  on  steel,  and  containing 
sketches  of  the  lives  of  Washington  Alston,  Henry 
Inman,  Benjamin  West,  Gilbert  Charles  Stuart,  John 
Trumbull,  James  DeVeaux,  Rembrandt  Peale  and 
Thomas  Crawford.     1  vol.  8vo.    £"3. 

"Its  object  fs  to  give  ns  sketches  of  the  eminent  Artist*  of  Amerioa 
In  successive  numbers,  beautifully  printed,  and  accompanied  with  an 
engraved  likeness  of  each.  This  is  a  worthy  project,  and  should  ba 
largely  patronized  by  all  our  citizens.  We  lire  Hooded  with  light, 
flimsy,  sentimental  jieriodicals— this  is  something  different,  and  will  add 
to  our  knowledge  of  our  own  land."— A^.  U.  Herald. 

"A  b'Kilt  which  will  fill  a  long-felt-vacancy  on  the  shelves  of  on* 
librarians,  and  one  that  is  deserving  to  receive  the  eucuurageiiient  of 
tverjr  l?Ter  ui  hm  &iUi  ia  our  coauUjJ'—ISrookli/n  Daily  Jdeeriiier. 


NEW  WORK  ON  THE  APOCALYPSE. 

The  Coming  of  the  Lord ;  a  Key  to  the  Book  of  Revelation. 

By  the  Rev.  James  M.  MacdonalcL    1  vol.  12rao ;  75  cents. 

"We  have  not  lately  seen  a  more  rational  and  consistent  exposition  of 
the  great  platform  of  future  prophecy,  than  Mr.  Macdonald  has  here  so 
Buccinctly  and  clearly  presented.  He  evidently  came  to  the  interpreta- 
tion of  the  book  without  any  preconstructed  theory  or  hobby;  and 
candidly  studying,  with  the  aid  of  no  inconsiderable  scholarship,  the 
word  in  its  own  light,  and  seeking  to  know  the  mind  of  the  Spirit,  he 
has  presented  an  outline  which  strikes  us  as  eminently  consistent  with  the 
Whole  scope  of  the  Scriptures,  and  with  the  uniform  belief  of  the  wise 
Bnd  good  in  all  ages  of  the  Church.  The  clear  and  animated  style  in 
which  the  truth  is  set  forth,  withont  any  parade  of  learning,  (though 
not  without  its  light  and  power,)  renders  the  book  exceedingly  interest- 
ing, and  well  adapted  for  popular  reading."— iV.  Y.  Evangelist. 

"The  work  of  Mr.  P^acdonald  displays  commendable  research,  and 
certainly  presents  a  very  intelligent  comment,  which  may  be  read  with 
profit  even  by  those  who  may  not  agree  with  him  in  all  his  views.  He 
has  aimed  at  simplicity,  and  may  be  easily  understood.  This  is  no  or- 
dinary praise.  Literalists  will  not  think  he  has  hit  on  the  right  key  in 
Interpreting  some  passages,  but  he  treats  their  views  courteously.  An 
appendix  contains  an  interpretation  of  some  of  the  prophecies  of  DanieL" 
—Presbyteriaru 

'  "  We  have  long  known  the  estimable  author,  as  a  Bcholar  of  no  ordl- 
nary  attainments,  and  a  gentleman  on  whose  steadiness  of  principle 
and  sound  judgment  we  are  disposed  to  rely  as  confidently  as  on  those 
of  any  man  wiihin  the  sphere  of  our  acquaintance.  The  perusal  of  his  in- 
troduction convinced  us  that  ii«  had  not  only  entered  upon  his  work  in 
the  most  cautious  and  reverent  spirit,  but  prosecuted  it  throughout  on 
eound  principles  of  Scriptural  research.  W^hether  his  theory  be  the  true 
one  or  not,  it  is  simple  and  comprehensive,  and  has  led  him  especially  to 
develope  the  practical  teachings  of  the  book  before  him. 
_  '•  The  style  of  the  book  is  pure,  perspicuous  and  elegant,  occasionally 
rising  into  the  highest  eloquence.  Whatever  opinion  may  be  entertain- 
of  its  merits  as  a  systematic  and  continuous  commentary,  its  literary 
execution  is  in  every  sense  credita.hle."—Protesta7it  Churchman. 

"This  is  a  modest  sensible  little  book.  And  if  our  judsrment  be  cor- 
rect, this  is  saying  not  a  little  for  a  manuel  on  the  Apocalvpse.  The 
truth  is,  although  we  have  never  been  inclined  to  endorse  the  profanity 
which  has  been  fathered  on  Dr.  South,— that  the  study  of  the  Revela- 
tion either  finds  a  man  mad  or  makes  him  so,— j-et  as  so  many  monoma- 
niacs have  of  late  been  trifling  with  this  book  and  its  cognate  "in  the  Old 
Testament,  we  have  been  very  chary  in  our  ontlav  of  time  and  money 
for  expositions  of  them.  But  we  have  read  Mr.  MacdonaM,  and  we  are 
glad  that  we  have  done  so.  The  author  has  verv  carefully  avoided  an 
error  into  which  the  expounders  of  prophecy  generally  fall— he  has  not 
presumed  to  prophecy  himself.  His  plan,  to  use  his  own  language,  is 
"simply  to  afford  an  index  to  the  bearing  and  general  scope  of  the  differ- 
ent p.i.rts  of  the  book. 

"  Those  who  road  Macdonald  will  be  gratified  to  see  how  easily  he  dis- 
poses of  certain  classes  of  Millenarians— including  the  Patristic  and  se- 
veral tribes  of  our  own  day— especiallv  those  dreamers  who  imagine  a 
personal,  secular  reigu  of  Christ  with  the  martyrs,  for  a  thousand  years. 
The  appendix  contains  a  simple  analysis  and  exposition  of  Dauiel'"s  pro- 
phecies ;  having  this  peculiarity,  that  the  2300  days,  the  I'iOO  days,  the 
1335  days,  are  literally  explained  according  to  the  real  history  of  thoM 


times.  The  four  beasts  of  Daniel's  first  Tislon,  also,  are  eonsidere*  en- 
tirely distinct  from  the  fnir  divisions  of  Nebuchadnezzar's  colossal  im- 
age, and  are  referred  to  the  fourfold  division  of  Alexander's  empire.  Bat 
we  must  stop,  and  let  our  readers  get  the  b<X)ii."—Smit/ieTn  Chri$% 
iMeth.)  Advucalc. 

"  We  are  pleased  with  the  character  of  this  work,  and  the  plan  pa|V 
Bued  by  the  author.  He  possesses  a  clear  and  investigating  mind,  and 
his  exposition  throws  light  and  clearness  on  the  Book  of  Rovelationa 
which  can  be  gathered  from  no  other  source.  It  wiU,  no  doubt,  be  a 
popular  book  among  theologians,  and  will  be  referred  to  and  quoted  ea 
authority  by  many  who  have  hitherto  paid  but  little  attention  to  this 
highly  interesting  and  sablimo  portion  of  the  Word  of  Life."— 6r«t^ 
tu  Evaitgelist. 

"  This  book  is  adapted  to  the  common  mind ;  written  with  judgment, 
good  sense,  and  great  simplicity.  There  are  more  learned  and  elaboratS 
treatises  on  this  book  ;  but  we  have  met  with  none  so  well  adapted  to 
the  common  mind  desirous  to  obtain  a  general  knowledge  of  the  visiona 
vouchsafed  to  John  in  Patmos.  To  us  it  is  a  great  recommendation  of 
this  work  that  '  Literalism '  and  '  the  personal  reign  of  Chri«t  apoa 
earth,'  find  in  it  no  adYocaey.^'—BUzadet/Uoum  JaurjuU. 


A  Key  to  the  Book  of  Revelations,  with  an  appendix.    By 
Jaaues  M.  Macdonald. 

"  As  this  work  relates  to  a  portion  of  the  Sacred  Scriptnres,  whiclj, 
by  common  consent,  is  more  difficult  of  interpretation  than  any  other, 
it  were  not  to  be  expected  that  any  work  on  this  subject  should  com- 
mand anything  like  the  universal  approbation  of  Protestant  or  Evan- 
gelical Chri.Htians.  But  we  think  none  can  read  the  present  volnme  with- 
out (leroeiviii;,'  that  it  is  no  novice  who  is  adventuring  into  this  sublime, 
obscure,  we  had  almost  said,  shadowy  field.  The  writer  haa  evidently 
studied  his  subject  with  profound,  earnest  and  devout  attention  ;  and  ho 
evinces  much  of  that  sobriety  of  mind,  that  patieuce  of  investigation, 
that  disijosition  to  bow  implicitly  to  the  divine  authority,  which  oonsti- 
tnto  the  essential  and  primary  requisites  to  a  good  commentator.  From 
some  of  his  positions  we  might  be  disposed  to  dissent ;  but  as  a  whole, 
the  work  certainly  possesses  uncommoii  merit,  and  from  its  popular  as 
well  as  its  sober  character  is  likely  to  render  this  difficult  portion  of 
Scripture  much  better  understood  by  a  lar^  class  of  readers  than  it  blfl 
hitherto  been."— ^Z6(;?!y  Sptxiulor. 

THE  SHORTER  CATECHISM 

Of  the  Rev.  Assembly  of  Divines,  with  proofs  thereof  oul 
of  the  Scriptures,  in  words  at  length.  l8mo.    $5  per  100. 

HINTS  TO  CHRISTIANS, 
By  the  Rev.  T.  H.  Skinner,  D.  D.,  and  the  Eev.  Edwaiti 
Beecher,  D.  D.    1  vol.  32mo.     13  cts, 

SERMONS, 
By  Hugh  Blair,  D.  D.,  to  which  is  prefuced  the  Life  and 
Character  of  the  author,  by  James  Finlayson,   D.D. 
1  vol.  8vo.    S2. 


rRELAND*6  WELCOME  TO  THE  STRANGER: 

(R,  an  ExcurBion  through  Ireland  in  1844  and  1845,  for 
the  purpose  of  personally  investigating  the  condition  of 
the  poor.    By  A.  Nicholson.    Baker  &  Scribner. 

Z<etter  from  Hon.  IVm.  H.  Seward,  to  tbo  Fnbllsliera. 

Auburn,  September  SOtfi,  1847. 
Gentlemen  : 

The  book  of  Mrs.  Nicholson  which  you  kindly  sent  to  mo  hag 
been  received,  and  read  with  deep  interest. 

It  has  many  blemishes,  and  yet  I  sincerely  believe  it  to  be  one  of  the 
best  Books  of  Travel  ever  written.  Indeed  I  never  read  one  concern- 
ing which  I  could  feel  assured  that  it  gave  the  naked  truth,  and  the 
■whole  of  it.  No  one  can  doubt  the  scrupulous  truthfulness  and  fulness 
of  Mrs.  Nicholson's  account  of  Life  in  Ireland.  As  I  think  no  people 
have  been  more  wrongfully  or  more  severely  oppressed  in  Modern 
Europe  than  the  Irish,  so  I  know  of  none  who  have  so  just  a  claim  on 
our  sympathy.  Mrs.  Nicholson's  book  is  an  argument  for  that 
•Slaim.  derived  from  the  very  best  source,  the  actual  condition  of  the 
Irish  People.  I  hope  it  may  find  a  broad  circulation.  No  one  can 
read  it  without  tliinking  more  justly  of  the  People  of  Ireland,  and 
without  being  improved  by  the  perusal. 

With  many  thanks  for  your  courtesy,  I  am, 

Gentlemen,  your  humble  servant, 

WILLIAM  H.  SEWAHD. 

Messrs.  Baker  &  Scribner. 

"  Mrs.  Nicholson  is  a  woman  of  talents,  genius,  and  of  most  unqnes- 
€onabIe  benevolence, — of  noble  purposes,  and  never  weary  in  her 
efforts  to  achieve  them, — a  reformer,  and  wondering  that  the  wheels 
of  reformation  move  so  tardily  towards  the  goal.  In  1S44.  she  felt 
called  to  a  mission  to  Ireland,  for  the  purpose  of  investigating  per- 
sonally the  condition  of  the  Irish  poor.  Of  course  she  went.  Some- 
times in  stages,  and  sometimes  in  fly-boats,  sometimes  in  the  pea- 
sant's car,  and  sometimes  on  foot, — sometimes  with  money,  and 
sometimes  without, — sometimes  spurned  from  the  mansions  of  the 
great  and  sheltered  in  the  hut  of  poverty,  and  sometimes  refused  ad 
mission  to  the  hut,  and  welcomed  to  the  castle,  she  traversed  Ire 
land,  and  here  is  the  record  of  her  wanderings,  in  1844  and  1345, 
The  interest  of  some  of  its  passages  is  intense. — you  are  move4 
sometimes  to  pity,  sometimes  to  indignation. — now  you  laugh,  ana 
the  next  moment  you  are  moved  to  tears.  We  confess  that  we  hav* 
received  new  light  on  the  condition  of  Ireland,  and  are  able  to  ap* 
predate  now  as  we  were  not  able  to  appreciate  before,  how  dread 
iul  must  have  been  the  famine  of  the  last  winter."— iV.  Y.  Recorder. 

"  The  author  is  a  female  of  striking  peculiarities  and  eccentricities. 
Alone  she  visited  Ireland  on  a  tour  of  exploration,  and  mainly  rely- 
ing on  her  own  resources,  without  the  aid  of  influential  Iriends, 
and,  as  it  would  seem,  with  a  slender  purse  she  travels  over  the 
greater  portion  of  the  Island,  sometimes  on  foot,  and  sometimes  in 
the  Irish  jaunting-car.  Her  mission,  whatever  might  be  its  definite 
design,  was  principally  to  the  poor,  and  we  find  her  everywhere  in 
the  hovels  of  poverty  partaking  of  the  hospitality  of  those  who 
could  oiler  her  no  better  fare  than  a  potato  and  a  straw  bed.    These 


vhiti  she  describes  in  her  own  peculiar  style,  and  gircs  the  con- 
versations she  had  with  tho  wretched  and  oppressed  inhabitants. 
Many  o?  her  sketches  are  hifjhly  graphic,  sometimes  amusing,  and 
often  touching.  The  general  picture  of  the  condition  of  tho  poor  is 
gloomy  indeed,  and  bears  the  marks  of  truth.  Irish  character  ia 
also  well  portrayed," — Prtibylerian. 

"  Her  heart  is  indeed  warm  with  her  theme.  She  bears  you  with 
breathless  interest  from  cabin  to  cabin,  and  from  mountain  top  and 
yalley.  to  mountain  top  and  valley.  She  makes  you  a  party  ia 
everything.  Her  bold  and  graphic  descriptions  charm  you — her 
glowing  [nctures,  revealing  the  secret  workings  of  humanity,  live 
in  memory — her  simple  and  touching  delineations  of  the  life  of  Ire- 
land's poor,  melt  you  to  tears,  and  command  your  sympathy  ;  and 
you  arise  from  the  perusal  of  the  work,  with  better  views  of  life, 
new  and  deeper  feelings  for  your  kind,  and  with  a  constrained  de- 
sire to  follow  her  in  the  walks  of  Christian  travel  and  benevo- 
lence."— Albany  Spectator. 

"  She  has  ti-i.-elled  among  tho  people,  and  has  seen  them  in  their 
cottages  and  hovels,  and  tells  us  all  she  saw  with  a  sprightliness 
which  prevents  our  interest  from  flagging.  Those  who  feel  an  in- 
terest in  this  noble  but  oppressed  people,  will  consider  this  work  of 
much  value."— JcTicy  City  Telegraph. 

9  "  As  the  spirit  of  henevolcnce  dictated  the  purpose  in  which  this 
book  originated,  so  it  breatlies  through  every  page  of  its  contents. 
It  is  the  production  of  one  of  our  countrywomen,  who.  partly  from 


peasantry  of  that  ill-fated  country.  She  has  made  a  book  that 
speaks  well  both  for  her  head  and  heart.  Her  details  of  what  she 
witnessed  and  e.\iierienccd  are  "b.vceedingly  minute  and  graphic, 
and  display  as  much  of  true  Irish  character  as  we  have  met  with 
anywhere  within  the  same  limits." — Albany  Argus. 

This  work  will  probably  create  considerable  interest  at  the  pre- 
sent day,  connected  as  it  is  with  tho  recent  famine  and  sickness  in 
unhappy  Ireland.  It  is  the  transcript  of  views  and  impressions 
made  upon  a  disinterested  (though  not  unintorested)  yet  benevolent 
lady  who  went  among  the  lowest  classes,  for  the  purpose  of  per- 
sonally investigating  their  condition,  and  relieving  it.  as  far  as  laid 
in  her  power.  The  narrative  is  finely  written,  and  the  scenes  de- 
picted are  both  all'ecting  and  amusing.  The  work  presents  a  scene 
of  human  misery  almost  too  painful  to  road,  yet  so  interspersed  with 
relations  characteristic  of  the  Irish,  as  to  present  au  iutcresUng  and 
Instructing  book."— C'/ir«/ia»  JiUeliigencer. 

"The  heroic  fidelity  with  which  this  unenviable,  bnt  most  useful 
mission,  was  performed  ;  the  gentle  sympathv,  the  kind  advice  and 
assistance  which  slie  bestowed  ;  and  more  tli'an  all.  the  luithful  but 
startling  picture  of  Irish  poverty  which  she  lias  brought  above 
ground,  the  volume  will  disclose  to  tho  reader.  And  no  one,  wo 
are  sure,  can  read  it  without  being  agitated  with  the  profoundest 
pity  for  tho  poor,  starving,  degraded  Insh,  or  Without  admiration  ibr 


tha  practical,  energetic  philanthropy  of  ths  woman  yrho  could  do 
all  this.  Tlie  style  of  the  worlt  is  straiKht-forward,  simple,  truth- 
ful, and  therefore  eloouent ;  and  of  all  the  hooka  on  that  much-be- 
Written  country^  we  have  never  met  one  half  so  interesting,  instruc- 
tive, or  suggestive.  At  the  present  time,  when  thousands  of  irish- 
men are  coming  to  claim  our  compassion,  we  wish  that  Americau 
charity  might  receive  the  impulse  that  this  book  is  so  admirably 
adapted  to  give."— iV;  Y. Evangelist. 

"The  book  will  be  found  deeply  interesting.  In  fact  it  could 
scarcely  be  expected  otherwise,  when  it  is  remembered  that  a  lady 
of  refined  feelings,  blended  witli  deep  and  ardent  piety,  and  a  very 
graceful  writer  withal,  is  the  author  ;  and  that  this  lady  actually 
travelled  through  Ireland,  stopping  at  the  low  mud  cabins,— by  the 
•wayside, — and  wherever  she  found  an  object  of  charity  to  whom  she 
could  minister  consolation.  We  have  never  met  with  a  book  in 
which  the  condition  of  Ireland  appeared  to  be  so  faithfully  pic- 
tured."— Christian  Secretary. 

'^Ireland's  Welcome  to  a  Stranger,  is  the  result  of  a  bold  novelty 
in  our  travelling  annals.  A  lady  of  mind,  heart  and  education  visit- 
ed Ireland  in  the  most  unpretending  way,  and  with  the  intention 
of  searching  out  the  very  pith  of  the  matter  as  she  explored  the 
fountain  of  Irish  woes  and  Irish  hopelessness.  No  visitor  she  of  lordly 
halls  and  stately  institutions  ;  her  time  and  sympathies  were  given  to 
the  suflcring  and  down-cast  in-dweller  in  lowly  cabins  by  the  way 
side.  The  story  of  her  wanderings  among  the  poor  are  told  in  one 
of  the  most  vivid,  earnest,  heart-reaching  volumes  of  the  day.  The 
writer  is  a  woman  in  feeling,  an  American  in  sentiment,  and  a  true 
jnissionary  in  conduct.  Some  of  the  anecdotes— so  simply,  yet  so 
efl'ectively  told — are  worth  more  than  any  missionary  sermon  ever 
given  from  a  pulpit,  and  no  one  who  takes  up  the  book  will  lay  it 
down  willingly  before  he  comes  to  the  end.  When  he  does  it  will 
be  with  a  cordial  acknowledgment  that  he  has  learned  much  that  it 
is  well  to  know,  and  that  Messrs.  Baker  &  Scribner  have  given  the 
public  a  most  interesting  book  in  Mrs.  Nicholson's  recital  of 'Ire- 
land's Welcome  to  the  Stranger.'  "—N,  Y.  Sun. 

"Over  three  years  ago  Mrs.  Nicholson  set  sail  for  Ireland,  deter- 
mined to  make  herself  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  denizens  ol 
Its  cabins  and  hovels,  so  as  to  qualify  herself  to  judge  what  are  the 
true  causes  of  the  squalid  wretchedness  there  so  prevalent,  and  ol 
the  practicability  and  pro})er  means  of  alleviating  it.  In  this  spirit 
8he  has  since  travelled  over  a  great  part  of  the  unhappy  kingdom, 
mainly  on  foot  and  often  alone,  stopping  to  rest  at  the  lowliest 
hal)itations,  and  grudging  no  inconvenience  nor  rebutl",  so  that  she 
was  enabled  to  see  clearly  and  report  truly  the  condition  of  the 
Irish  people.  A  stern  Protestant,  she  was  not  likely  to  be  misled 
by  religious  Bymi)athy.  And  she  has  given  us  an  instructive, 
plain-spoken,  unpretending  book,  full  of  facts  which  will  provo 
uselul  in  the  progress  of  the  struggle  for  the  emancipation  not  ol 
Ireland  s  millions  only,  but  of  the  oppressed  and  famished  even-, 
where."— iV;  y.  Tribune 


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NAPOLEON  AND  HIS  MARSHALS, 

By  J.  T.  Headley,  illustrated  with  12  engravings  on  steel, 

2  vols.  12mo,    S2  50. 

"  The  brilliant  pen  of  onr  friend  and  correspondent  has  been  tasked 
(dt  its  highest  and  happiest  efforts  in  these  descriptions  of  men  and 
Bcenes  whose  names  are  illustrious  in  the  annals  of  history.  Thedft" 
fence  of  Napoleon  in  the  first  volume  has  not  been  successfully  im- 
peached by  the  critics,  and  we  are  pleased  with  the  evidence  that  Mt 
Headley  observes  with  the  eye  of  a  philosopher,  while  poetry  distils  as 
the  dew  from  his  flowing  pen." — N.  Y.  Obserxer. 

"  Mr.  Headley's  peculiarities  as  an  author  are  universally  known.  Ho 
is  one  of  the  most  vigorous  and  spirit-stirring  writers  of  the  day — espe- 
cially graphic  and  powerful  in  narratives  of  exciting  events.  In  battle 
scenes  he  has  succeeded  better  than  any  other  writer  of  the  day;  and  he 
has  therefore  very  wisely  given  the  most  of  his  etforts  to  this  class  of 
■writings.  No  one  can  fail  to  get  from  his  descriptions,  most  graphiCf 
vivid  and  lasting  impressions  of  the  scenes  of  which  he  speaks. 

The  two  volumes  in  which  Mr.  Headley  has  sketched  the  lives,  charac- 
ters, and  leading  exploits  of  Napoleon  and  the  band  of  unrivalled  war- 
riors by  whom  he  was  surrounded,  are  among  the  most  readable  recently 
issued  from  the  press,  and  in  the  spirit  of  interest  they  arouse  in  the 
great  events  with  which  they  are  connectedj  will  be  found  a  source  of 
great  profit  as  well  as  pleasure  and  interest.  They  are  very  handsomely 
printed,  and  contain  a  nnmber  of  very  fine  outline  portraits  of  the  mosi 
prominent  characters.  The  work  will  form  a  valuable  accession  to  every 
public  and  private  library." — N.  Y.  Courier  4"  Enquirer. 

"  ]\Ir.  Headley  is  a  clear  and  powerful  writer,  and  seems  to  catch  more 
and  more  of  the  spirit  of  enthusiasm  as  he  advances  in  his  work.  There 
is  no  slacking  of  energy  or  abatement  of  intere.'it  to  the  very  last ;  and 
you  arise  frum  the  perusal  of  the  volumes,  with  new  and  more  reasonable 
views  of  the  life  and  character  of  Napoleon,  and  with  greater  admira- 
•  tion  of  his  brave  IVIarshals,  than  you  had  ever  been  able  to  gathei 
from  the  one-eyed  writings  of  prejudiced  Englishmen." — Albany  Speo- 
taior. 

"  With  a  subject  ever  the  same  in  its  general  features,  the  Author  has 
accomplished  the  difficult  task  of  giving  individuality  to  the  different 
battle  scenes,  and  each  Chieftain  is  marked  by  characteristics  which 
distinguish  him  from  his  fellows.  No  one  can  read  these  terrific  de- 
scriptions without  being  greatly  moved  and  feeling  more  deeply  than 
ever  the  horrors  and  misery  of  war.  Alison  has  obtained  a  great  reput*. 
tio»  as  a  painter  of  battles,  but  it  seems  to  us  that  he  is  really  surpassed 
bylleadley.  As  an  American  writer  with  an  American  heart,  we  com- 
mend hun  to  the  Western  public." — Cincinnati  Paper. 

"  A  spirit  stirring,  trumpet-toned  description  of  the  most  distinguished 
men  and  scenes  of  this  interesting  portion  of  modern  history,  when 
written  by  one  of  the  most  accomplished  descriptive  writers  of  the  age, 
■will  form  a  valuable  addition  to  any  library.  In  describing  battle  scenes 
and  military  es^iloits,  Mr.  H.  has  succeeded  better  than  any  writer  of 
the  day ;  and  no  one  can  read  this  work  without  carrying  aw.ay  with  him 
a  clear  and  lasting  impression — a  sort  of  Daguerreotype  of  the  brilliant 
Ecenes  and  passages  at  arms,  which  he  has  attempted  to  portray." — New 
Haven  Herald. 

"  The  fifth  edition  of  this  work  is  before  us.  Mr.  He.adley  is  a  brll- 
fiant  writer,  and  sustains  his  high  reputation  in  the  graphic  biographie* 
of  tho  '  Great  Captain '  and  his  Illustrious  Marshals.    It  is  almost  tou 


bte  fbr  ns  to  gay  a  word  in  commendation  of  these  yolnmes :  we  only  s»y 
that  if  yet  nnread  by  auy  who  desire  a  liberal  Tiew  of  the  cnaracter  and 
conreo  of  Napoleon,  there  is  a  delightful  entertainment  before  them  of 
Vhich  they  should  partake  as  soon  as  possible.  They  are  amongst  the 
most  iuteresting  Tolumes  we  have  ever  read." — N.  J.  JoumaL 

"This  work  has  placed  Mr.  Headley  in  a  high  rank  as  a  strong  and 
elear  writer,  and  a  sound  thinker.  His  accounts  of  Napoleon  and  his 
Officers  seem  to  ns  to  be  the  most  faithful  ever  yet  written ;  and  his 
descriptions  of  various  battles  and  exciting  events  are  remarkably 
graphic,  glowing  and  picturesque.  Mr.  Headley  is  a  talented  man ;  and 
ve  place  implicit  confidence  in  his  opinion,  at  the  same  time  that  we 
admire  his  style." — Cincinnati  Clironcte. 

"  Indeed  the  work  is  one  of  remarkable  power,  and  will  add  mnch  to 
the  already  well  earned  reputation  of  the  author.  It  is  written  in  a 
brilliant  and  animated  style ;  and  the  reader  ceases  to  be  a  critic  in  ad- 
miration of  the  splendid  achievements  of  Napoleon  and  his  Marshals — 
Bo  graphically  and  vividly  portrayed,  that  each  sentence  seems  a  picture: 
and  the  whole  book  but  a  magnificent  panorama  of  the  battle-fields  of 
Marengo,  Austerlitz,  Waterloo,  etc. 

"No  author,  observes  a  contemporary,  has  a  quicker  appreciatioB  of 
the  prominent  points  in  the  character  he  is  describing,  or  a  happier 
faculty  of  setting  them  before  his  readers  than  INIr.  Headley.  Hi« 
sketch  of  Napoleon,  we  will  venture  to  say,  gives  a  better  defined  and 
truer  idea  of  '  the  Man  of  Destiny,'  than  any  biography  in  the  language. 
It  relieves  Napoleon  from  the  misrepresentations  of  English  writers, 
and  shows  that  for  the  long  and  bloody  wars  in  which  he  waa  engaged, 
ELigland  was  directly  responsible." — Ci7icinytali  Alias. 

"We  commend  this  work  to  our  readers  as  one  of  unnsual  interest, 
irritten  with  force  rather  than  elegance — with  honest  warmth,  rather 
than  cold  discrimination.  The  pictures  which  it  contains  are  drawn 
with  masculine  and  startling  vigor,  and  although  pretending  to  be  de- 
scriptive of  individuals,  are  connected  with  vivid  accounts  of  thegloriouB 
campaigns  in  which  they  were  the  actors." — Pennsylvanian. 

"The  abi  ity  and  graphic  power  which  Mr.  Headley  has  evinced  in 
these  delineations,  will  m^t  only  not  he  questioned,  but  place  him  in  the 
first  rank  of  descriptive  writers.  Whether  the  same  deference  will  bo 
paid  to  the  soundness  of  his  reasoning,  or  the  justness  of  his  views,  ia 
doubtful.  His  ardent  love  of  freedom,  and  his  generous  appreci.ition  of, 
and  sympathy  with,  whatever  is  noble  in  character  or  action,  give  a 
oharm  to  these  volumes  and  inve.it  them  with  a  good  moral  influence 
The  reader  will  not  only  find  interest  and  excitement,  and  con-^iderable 
additions  to  the  minutenens  and  accuracy  of  his  historical  knowledge, 
but  many  of  the  mast  elevated  sentiments,  in  the  perusal  of  the  work. 
It  is  finely  executed,  and  embellished  with  spirited  etchings  on  steel."— 
N.   y.  Evangelist. 

"  We  6[>eak  of  these  rolnmes  with  great  pleasure,  because  we  have  not 
of  late  met  with  a  work  so  instructive,  which  has  been  so  entertaining. — 
The  sketches  are  but  sketches,  but  with  the  skilful  hand  of  a  painter. 
the  author  has  presented  the  mo.^t  prominent  tniits  in  the  character  of 
each  of  his  subjects  so  forcibly,  that  the  man  st.ands  boldly  forth  on  the 
page,  and  you  seem  almost  to  be  th«  companion  of  the  gallant  heroes  who 
surrounded  the  •  Man  of  Destiny.' 

"  We  cannot  nndertake  to  condense  these  sketches,  or  extract  portions 
fbrour  columns  They  should  be  read,  and  wherever  they  are  known 
they  will  bo  read.  As  we  have  turned  the  la^it  leaf  up<'n  each  of  the 
Marshals,  we  have  thought  each  picture  more  vivid  and  beantiful  than 
the  last,  and  we  closed  the  volumes  with  regret,  that  the  ple.-uures  we 
bad  enjoyed,  oould  not  tk^.'Uu  return  with  their  original  fr«sbne«s 


"  If  yon  love  vivid  picttrres  by  a  master  hand,  it  you  wonld  ftel  the 
blood  curdle  in  your  veins  as  you  read,  of  maddening  charge,  and  terribl* 
assault ;  seek  theso  volumes,  peruse  them  carefully,  and  you  will  n3t 
Close  them  without  musing  in  silent  admiration  of  the  mighty  genius 
whose  pomp  and  power  blazud  like  a  meteor  on  the  world,  and  sunk  in  tho 
battle  of  Waterloo." — Providence  Transcript. 

"  The  book  is  splendidly  written.  A  seeming  eflfort  at  fine  writing  has 
been  considered,  by  many,  a  fault  of  Mr.  Headley's  style.  Wa  think 
Buch  do  not  take  sufficiently  into  consideration  the  subjects  upon  which 
he  writesT  That  style  of  writing  is  always  the  best,  that  enables  th« 
reader  to  see  most  clearly  what,  passes  in  the  mind  of  the  writer,  which 
serves  to  transfer  to  the  mental  canvass  of  the  reader,  tnc  exact  image 
of  the  picture  upon  the  writer's  mind.  If  this  is  any  test  of  good  wri- 
ting, no  one  who  reads  the  work  before  ua,  will  for  a  moment  doubt  that 
it  is  well  written.  Aside  from  the  sketch  of  the  character  of  Napoleon, 
the  work  is  made  up  of  comparative  short  sketches  of  Napoleon's  Mar- 
ahala.  Of  course,  a  great  part  of  it  must,  of  necessity,  be  a  description 
of  the  movements  of  armies,  either  in  the  bloody  splendors  of  the  field 
of  death,  or  in  marches/rom  one  such  field  to  anotlier.  His  langTjage  in 
these  descriptions  is  always  graphic,  frequently  brilliant  and  dazzling, 
and  sometimes  even  gorgeous,  but  perhaps  none  too  much  so  to  impress 
with  vividness  upon  the  mind  of  the  reader,  the  scenes  he  describes. 
What  other  language  could  be  properly  used,  in  picturing  the  history 
of  Napoleon  and  }ds  Marshals  ?  But  the  reality  of  the  scenes  described, 
will  not  only  be  vividly  impressed  upon  the  mind  of  the  reader,  but  it 
will  be  written  there  with  a  pen  of  iron — they  cannot  be  Jor gotten.^'' — 
Elyria  Courier. 

"  The  chajacterof  Napoleon  is  not  understood,  nor  his  virtues  acknow- 
ledged, from  the  fact  that  his  name  has  been  presented  in  almost  every 
family  and  school  to  illustrate  the  ill  effects  of  ambition.  The  enemies 
of  this  great  man  have  invariably  misrepresented  him,  and  the  pages  of 
English  history  have  abounded  with  so  many  denunciations  of  his  career, 
that  the  youth  of  our  country  could  not  avoid  receiving  erroneou.^  im- 
pressions in  regard  to  his  achievements,  the  motives  which  impelled,him 
to  action,  and  the  exisrencies  into  which  he  was  placed. 

"  Mr.  Headley  has  wisely  studied  the  character  of  Bonaparte,  the  spirit 
of  the  times  in  which  he  lived,  and  the  great  destiny  to  be  wrought  out, 
by  the  thrilling  incidents  of  his  life,  and  has  illustrated  each  by  a  faitk- 
ful  biography  of  the  Marshals  who  were  participators  in  these  memorabla 
scene?. — We  are  fully  impressed  with  the  correctness  of  the  positions  as- 
sumed, and  join  vritli  all  who  have  read  these  volumes  in  expressing  our 
admiration  of  the  graphic  and  entertaining  style  in  which  the  author  has 
presented  his  opinions,  and  described  events  of  the  most  interesting 
character. 

"  No  Library  can  be  considered  complete  without  a  copy  of  Napoleon 
and  his  Marshals." — Teac/iers  Advocate,  Syracuse. 

"  Mr.  Headley  is  truly  eloiinent  in  his  description  of  character.  He 
presents  to  you  the  strong  points  of  the  man  with  a  clearness  that 
seems  to  place  him  before  you  as  an  old  acquaintance.  But  he  excels 
most  In  his  description  of  the  battle-field,  and  it  is  this  that  has  subjected 
the  Reverend  gentleman  to  much  criticism.  But  could  he  otherwise 
give  you  a  proper  idea  of  the  characters  of  which  he  writes?  To  know 
McDonald  vie  must  see  him  as  he  stands  at  the  head  of  his  columns  at 
Wagram.  To  know  Davoust,  go  with  him  to  the  field  of  Auerstadt,  and 
follow  him  amid  the  horrors  of  the  retreat  from  Prussia.  It  was  amid 
blood  and  carnage  that  these  men  lived,  and  it  is  otdy  by  seeing  them 
there  that  we  can  get  a  correct  idea  of  their  character. 

"  We  like  Mr.  Ubadley's  book,  for  it  gives  us  portraits  of  great  men 


We  may  read  them,  ami  imitate  that  which  ia  good  and  reject  tliat  \rhich 
is  not  worthy  of  imitation." — Cleveland  Herald. 

"Mr.  Headley  has  led  ns  away  captive  by  hia  descriptions  of  these 
brave  men.  It  is  almost  the  best  written  book  that  ever  came  into  onr 
hands,  and  must  8tamp  its  author  as  one  of  the  best  ^vriters  of  oar 
country .'' — Mudiscm  Adrocatc,  Wisconsin. 

"  A  more  interesting  book  cannot  be  fonnd  in  the  langnage,  than 
'  Napoleon  and  his  Marshals."  An  Jimerican  history  of  Bonaparte— of 
the  mighty  spirits  he  gathered  around  him— and  of  the  wars  he  carried 
on,  cannot  fail  of  enlisting  the  attention  of  the  American  reader."— 
La  fayelte  Courier,  Indiana. 

"The  author  has  treated  his  splendid  subject  most  felicitonsly,  ht» 
•  eloquent  pages  shed  new  lu<itre  upon  the  reputation  of  the  'child  of 
destiny'  and  his  brave  lieutenants,  while  his  estimates  of  character  will 
be  cordially  ajiproved  by  the  masses  everywhere.  He  has  won  a  high 
place  among  American  writers,  and  we  trust  he  will  not  be  content  to 
re:it  upon  his  laurels." — Detroit  Free  Press. 

"  Mr.  Headley  has  great  descriptive  talent,  as  this  work  thoroughly  at- 
tests. The  characters  of  the  Great  Captain  and  his  aids  are  drawn  by 
just  enough  strokes  of  the  pen,  with  great  clearrstss  and  vigor.  In  a 
gallery  of  military  portraits  there  must  be  a  similarity  which  will  ficcm 
like  sameness  in  the  narrative."*,  as  even  the  Iliad  will  attest,  and  this 
vork  does  not  escape  it ;  but  we  know  no  living  man  who  could  have 
done  better.  We  doubt  that  either  Thiers  or  Alison  could  have  given 
better  sketches  of  these  heroes  in  like  space.''— Ac-w  York  Tribune. 

"  Mr.  Headley  may  be  emphatically  termed  a  brilliant  writer.  Hia 
description  of  the  fierce  and  romantic  fights  of  the  lieutenants  of  Na- 
poleon knows  no  bounds.  We  take  in  through  the  eye  the  scenes  of 
conflict  themselves.  We  see  the  charge  of  Maodonald  at  Wagram,  of 
Davoust  at  Aucrstadt,  and  Lannes  at  Aspem.  We  behold,  as  it  wer«, 
the  death  of  Desai.x  in  the  moment  of  victory,  Augereau  on  the  heights 
of  Cavitiglione,  and  Soiilt  on  the  hills  of  Pratzen.  The  only  thing  we 
find  fault  with  !VIr.  Headley  for,  is  the  over-brilliancy  of  his  descriptions; 
they  are  sometimes  too  dazzling.  Yet  with  the  majority  of  readers  this 
will  be  no  fault,  but  nither  an  attraction.  He  is  an  anient  admirer  of 
Napoleou,  worshipping  him  with  almost  a  joctical  fervor,  .and  had  he 
been  a  follower  of  the  '  great  soldier'  in  the  days  of  his  gl'Ty,  he  would 
have  loved  him  with  adoration.  Mr.  Headley  has  evidently  studied  Na- 
jK'leon's  chief  soldiers,  and  like  l.ivy,  the  Koman  historian,  he  takes  the 
privilege  of  putting  words  into  the  mouths  of  the  men  whose  deeds  he 
records,  in  most  ca.se8  on  the  field  of  battle.  We  do  not  find  fault  with 
this,  on  the  contrary,  but  few  historians  know  how  to  do  the  thing  so 
well,  and  yet  prcoer've  the  probability." — The  Island  City. 

"  Nap<jleon  has  been  the  theme  of  the  ablest  pens  of  both  continents 
for  more  than  a  qu.irter  of  a  century,  but  this  is  the  first  work  that  haA 
met  our  obsen'ation,  in  which,  if  we  may  so  sjieak,  Najnilcon  has  been 
thoroughly  Amcricanizal.  Mr.  He.idley  has  written  the  work  with  true 
American  feelings  and  principU  s.  He  gives  N;>polcon  his  true  position, 
as  fighting  the  great  battle  of  the  I'eople  against  I.ogitini.icy. 

We  recommend  these  volumes.  esi«cially  to  all  who  have  youth  nnder 
their  charge.  It  will  do  more  than  any  work  with  wliich  we  are  acquainted, 
to  incite  a  love  for  historical  investigation;  while  it  will  (urni.sh  them 
with  a  key  to  a  prof^rr  uiidcnliiiiiHrig  of  Kurojxan  history,  for  the 
nineteenth  century." — Onondti^ii  Democrat,  Syracuse. 


space  of  five  months  it  has  undergone  fts  many  editionn;  and  if  we  may 
judge  by  the  continued  demand,  it  is  likely  to  go  through  as  many 
more,  Mr.  Headley  pos.sesses  a  thrilling  jjuwer  of  description,  and  al- 
though, in  giving  the  history  of  the  several  Marshals,  he  has  necessarily 
to  go  over  the  same  battles  frequently,  the  interest  of  the  reader  nerer 
flags;  but  is  sustained  by  the  ever  varying  genius  of  the  Author." — 
Columbia  S.O.  Ckronkle. 

"  This  is  a  work  of  two  volumes.  They  comprise  biographical 
Blcetches  of  Napoleon  and  twenty-three  of  his  Marshals,  and  are  adorned 
with  twelve  engravings  of  the  great  conqueror  and  the  more  diatia- 
guisho  J  of  his  associates  in  arms. 

"  To  Mr.  Headley  must  be  awarded  the  merit  of  having  concentrated, 
almost  within  a  single  glance,  the  striking  peculiarities  of  these  distin- 
guished men.  He  has  given  sketches  of  the  lives  of  the  grand  Marshals 
of  the  French  Empire,  together  with  descriptions  of  the  principal  actions 
in  which  they  were  engaged.  The  bold  and  vigorous  style  of  Mr.  Head- 
ley,  as  a  wi'iter,  render  his  accounts  of  these  military  encounters  particu- 
larly attractive.  The  reader  almost  imagines  himself  upon  the  battle 
field  amid  the  clash  of  charging  columns  and  the  roar  of  artillery.  He 
pictures  with  vividness  the  hero,  who.se  life  he  is  sketching.  We  can  see 
him  as  he  marches  to  the  attack.  Cool  and  collected,  be  dashes  upon 
the  enemy,  wheels  his  repulsed  battalions,  re-forms  his  broken  columns, 
and  with  all  the  calmness  of  a  holiday  parade,  holds  bis  falling  masses, 
by  the  moral  power  of  his  own  courage,  firmly,  amid  the  most  galling  fire. 
In  descriptions  of  this  kind  Mr.  H.  excells.  He  throws  around  his  sub- 
ject a  thrilling  interest." — Northampton  Daily  Gazette. 

"  The  sketch  of  Napoleon  with  which  Mr.  Headley's  book  opens,  is  vi- 
gorous and  spirited,  and  remarkable,  in  contradistiuction  to  the  writings 
of  the  Soott  and  Alison  school,  for  the  broad  an4  liberal  view  taken  of 
the  illustrious  subject.  Napoleon  is  not  measured  by  the  petty  grievan- 
ces of  England,  but  by  the  true  historical  standard  of  his  rise  and  ad- 
vancement as  a  necessary  developement  of  the  French  nation.  This 
Bimple  view  of  his  position  and  character  has  been  carefully  set  aside  by 
English  prejudices,  which  have,  as  Mr.  Headley  remarks,  infected  Ameri- 
can literary  opinion  to  an  extent  to  which  it  is  hardly  possible  for  tha 
readers  of  the  present  day  to  be  conscious.  It  is  singular  how  many  ap- 
parent incongruities,  raised  by  English  writers,  are  at  once  solved  by  a 
philosophical  estimate  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  French  Revolution. 
The  wickedness  for  wickedness'  sake,  of  which  Burke  makes  so  fine  a  re- 
torical  use,  is  seen  for  the  honor  of  human  nature  to  take  quite  a  differ- 
ent shape  in  the  form  of  a  maddened  and  infuriated  patriotism — but 
patriotism  still. 

"  We  know  of  no  sketch  of  Napoleon  where  so  much  matter  is  put  into 
80  small  a  space  as  in  this  introductory  paper  by  Mr.  Headley.  It  is 
ingenious,  straight-forward,  and  entirely  free  fi-om  that  biographical 
rubbish  to  which  Carlyle  has  shown  a  distaste.  The  sketches  of  the 
Marshals  are  always  animated.  We  perceive  that  some  of  the  papers 
are  complaining  of  Mr.  Headley's  adding  to  the  false  excitement  of 
war.  To  this  charge  he  is  hardly  liable.  There  is  no  s[>ecial  plea  for 
war  that  we  have  noticed  in  the  whole  book.  His  guilt,  if  any,  is  that 
he  has  made  his  book  interesting.  When  that  dull  affair  in  the  Family 
Library,  the  'Court  and  Camp  of  Bonap.">.rte,'  was  published,  no  one 
complained  of  its  exciting  a  false  love  of  military  glory.  It  was  dry  and 
— innocent.  Now  there  is  a  cant  against  war  as  there  was  once  for  it. 
Mr.  Headley  has  only  done  his  duty  in  telling  his  story  as  well  as  he 
can.  If  soldiers  are  to  be  put  down  in  literature,  it  is  true  it  is  good 
policy  to  let  none  but  dull  felliTws  write  about  them,  and  r\Ir.  Headley  i* 
in  many  respects — chiefly  by  virtue  of  his  c.ngor  narrative  and  natural 
love  of  excitement — the  very  last  mau  to  whom  thej  should  have  been 
eatrosted.""— Jlf<»wj)g^  News. 


HEADLEY'S  SACRED  MOUNTAINS. 

The  Sacred  Mountains  by  J.  T.  Headlcy,  autlior  of  NapcH 

leon  and  His  Marshals,  &c.     1   Vol.  8vo. ;   illustrated 

with  11  elegant  steel  engravings  of  the  Mountains  of  the 

Holy  Land  by  Burt,  and  13  beautiful  designs  by  Lossing. 

"Thowork  consists  of  a  description  of  the  eereral  mountains  men- 
tioned in  Scripture,  and  of  the  wonderful  scenes  that  have  been  exhibited 
upon  them.  Anirat^  Mori.i,  Sinai,  Hor,  Fissah,  Horeb,  Carmel,  Leba- 
non, Zion,  TaVjor,  Olivet,  Calvarj-,  and  the  Mount  of  God.  are  made  BiC- 
eeBsively  to  rise  up  before  the  eye  of  the  mind,  invested  with  all  that  su- 
perlative interest  which  they  gather  from  having  beet  ihe  theatre  of  the 
most  wonderful  exhibitions  of  divine  power,  wi.sdon  and  goodness. 

"  As  we  have  gone  through  the  work,  we  confee  that  we  have  felt  (bat 
the  author's  power  of  imagination  was  well  n  ,50  uuparalled.  Here  hu 
moves  in  the  fury  of  the  tempest,  and  there  upon  the  breathing  zephyr : 
here  he  paints  terror  and  blood  till  one'.^  own  blood  actually  curdles,  and 
there  illumines  his  page  with  some  beautiful  picture  which  put  in  requi- 
sition all  the  brightest  hues  of  the  rainbow.  The  bo^k,  so  far  as  wo 
know,  is  entirely  unique  in  its  character.  It  addresses  itself  to  the  best 
feelings  of  the  Christian's  heart,  chiefly  through  the  medium  of  the  im- 
magination.  Thousands  will  read  it  with  delight,  and  will  ever  after- 
wanls  contemplate  the  scenes  which  it  describes  with  on  interest  whlcb 
they  never  felt  before." — AUiany  Uerald. 

"  Those  who  have  read  Napole<3n  and  his  IVIarshals,  will  find  here  a 
book  marked  by  the  same  impetuous,  glowing  style,  but  on  subjects 
more  agreeable  to  a  religious  taste.  We  are  much  gratified  ourselves  to 
possess  the  volume,  and  we  commend  it  to  our  readers  as  a  charm- 
ing gift-book,  and  a  useful  compauion  for  quiet  hours." — New  York 
Recorder. 

"'  The  Sacred  Mountains^  is  the  title  of  a  very  elegant  volume  just 
pnblishad  by  Baker  and  Scribner.  It  is  written  by  J.  T.  HsAnLEY, 
whose  various  volumes,  though  recently  published,  have  made  him  one 
of  the  most  popular  living  writers  in  the  country.  It  contains  descrip- 
tive and  historical  sketches  of  all  the  mountains  rendered  memorable  by 
having  been  made  the  scenes  of  gre;!t  events  recorded  in  Scripture.  Its 
design,  as  the  author  savs,  is  'to  render  more  familiar  and  life-lika 
some  of  the  scenes  of  the  Bible.'  The  sketches  are  written  in  the  same 
TigorouB  and  brilliant  style  which  has  mainly  given  to  HEAOLsy's 
Tulumes  thbir  wide  popularity,  and  pre.'^eut  more  impressive  and  attrac- 
tive views  of  these  scenes  and  the  events  connected  with  them,  than  we 
have  ever  seen  elsewhere.  They  will  be  eagerly  read  by  all  classes  of 
persons." — N.  Y.  Courier  and  Unquirer. 

"  The  snVijcct,'  The  Sacrcl  IMoiintains.'  is  in  itself  a  grand  and  sablima 
theme ;  and  the  brilliantand  distiiiguishedabilities  of  the  author,  render 
the  work  one  of  rarest  merit.  He.idly  writes  as  no  other  man  ever  haa 
crrittcn.  His  style  is  peculiar ;  his  own,  and  inimitable.  He  employs 
hia  pen  only  on  subjects  of  the  loftiest  grandeur  and  sublimity  ;  and  his 
powers  of  description  arc  such,  that  he  awakens  and  carries  with  him 
every  sentiment,  pa.wion.  and  feelin;<  of  his  rc.ider. 

'•'Whoever  has  read  '  Na;  oluon  and  his  I\larslial8,' can  never  forget 
•  M'Doneld's  charge  nt  Wii^jram,'  <r  '  Ney's  chaij.'c  at  Waterloo.'  so  life- 
like and  vivid  are  his  descriptions  of  these  terrible  battli>s.  But  Iloadley 
In  his  des(Tiptinn  of  the  .Sacred  iMountains  ^.f  Scripture  whiro,  Gi"l  in  aw- 
ful majesty  displayed  liiniselfto  in.ui,  UuA  iimre  than  sustained  his  repu- 
tation a>i  the  most  elo<xuent  iutd  subliuic  writer  of  his  &se."—CLeceiund 
PUtin  Dealer. 


"The  8acrc(i  Mountains,  those  places  consecrated  to  every  Cbristtam 
beart  by  occurrences  of  the  most  solemn  interest,  afford  most  appropriate 
enbjects  for  Mr.  Headley's  vivid  powers.  He  sees  them  a.s  they  appear- 
ed when  tliey  were  hallowed  hy  the  presence  of  the  prophets  and  the 
apostles  of  old.  Hi.s  feelings  are  devout,  and  he  is  not  only  a  pilgrim 
Tisiting  sacred  spots,  but  a  Christian  whose  heart  keenly  appreciates 
every  event  which  clothed  them  with  interest  in  long  past  centuries. 
The  mechanical  execution  of  the  book  is  in  keeping  with  its  subjects 
and  the  power  exhibited  by  the  author  in  portraying  them ."—Z.oui4irtwB 
Journal. 

"  This  is  indeed  a  beautiful  book.  It  is,  we  should  judge,  one  of  the 
gifted  author'?  happiest  efforts,  as  it  certainly  is  one  of  the  most  noveL 
Most  literary  geotltmen  ransack  old  tales  and  old  ballads  for  themes 
and  suggestions  tej  their  literary  efforts ;  but  Mr.  H.  has  gone  to  the 
Scriptures,  and  has  g;ven  us  a  series  of  iacrcd  pictures.  The  author  is 
an  artist.  With  brush  in  hand,  he  goes  from  scene  to  scene,  and  deline- 
ates with  a  truthful  touch,  many  of  the  most  thrilling  incidents  of  Scrip- 
ture history. 

"  The  beauty  and  power  of  Mr.  Headley's  writing  is  in  its  remarkable 
vivacity.  Evey  piage  is  o/iTe  with  interest.  He  maies  every  scene,  as 
many  do  not  who  handle  sacred  tilings,  one  of  present  reality." — Not' 
wich  Courier. 

Mr.  Headley  is  well  known  as  one  of  the  most  brUliant  of  our  ■writers, 
and  this  volume  will  amply  sustain  and  extend  his  reputation.  His  de- 
scriptions of  the  "Sacred  Mountains"  are  very  graphic  and  beautiful, 
condensing  within  brief  compass  a  great  deal  of  information,  conveyed 
through  the  medium  of  a  highly  ornate,  polished  and  vigorous  style.  IS 
will  be  welcome  in  every  family  where  the  Bible  is  read  and  studied. 
The  illustrations  are  finished  engravings  of  Mount  Ararat,  Moria,  Sinai, 
Hor,  Pisgah,  Carmel,  Lebanon,  Zion,  Tabor,  and  the  JMount  of  Olives,  ex« 
ecuted  by  Burt,  from  paintings  by  Turner,  Calcot,  Harding,  Bartlett 
and  others." — Protestant  Churchman. 

"  This  work  is  alike  worthy  of  public  favor,  whether  we  consider  the 
subject  to  which  it  relates  or  the  manner  in  which  it  is  executed.  The 
subject  is  novel  and  striking,  connecting  itself  with  the  Christian's  most 
sublime  and  hallowed  associations.  The  execution  is  altogether  admi- 
rable— every  page  bears  the  impress  of  a  most  lofty  and  powerful  imma- 
gination,  a  highly  cultivated  taste  and  spirit  of  deep  and  earnest  devo- 
tion. The  author  conducts  his  readers,  as  by  an  angel's  hand,  through 
the  most  awful  and  glorious  scenes  whieh  the  world  has  ever  wituessed ; 
and  so  strong  is  the  light  in  which  everything  is  presented,  that  one 
seems  to  be  in  communion  with  the  actual  reality,  rather  than  contem- 
plate the  mere  description.  It  is  altogether  a  most  extraordinary  book, 
and  we  ^euture  to  predict  tlmt  it  will  not  only  travel  far  but  live  long.'' 
—Albany  Herald. 

"  A  pleasanter,  more  profitable,  more  graceful  and  beautiful  gift-book 
than  this,  it  will  be  hard  to  find,  among  all  the  productions  of  the  season. 
The  sacred  sketches  it  contains  are  written  in  Mr.  Headley's  well-known 
glowing  and  energetic  style,  with  pictures  of  scenery,  and  accompanying 
thoughts  and  feelings,  through  which  many  a  reader  has  followed  the 
author  with  deep  interest.  Ararat,  Moriah,  Sinai,  Hor,  Pisg-ah,  Horeb, 
Carmel,  Lebanon,  Zion,  Tabor,  Mount  of  Olives,  Blount  Calvury.  the 
Mount  of  God !  What  thoughts  and  associations  of  sac'-ed  solemnity 
and  grandeur 


"  Mr.  Headley'fl  characfcriBtles  as  a  writer  arc  bo  well  knewn  and 
fcvorably  ajiprcciatcJ,  that  we  need  not  bespeak  public  attention  to 
ftoythiug  from  his  pen.  There  is  about  the  present  volume,  howeTer, 
an  unusual  charm,  a  peculiar  attractiveness,  especially  to  the  serious, 
meditative  reader,  which  will  secure  for  it  ample  audience  and  lasting 
popularity.  The  moral  tone  is  elevated  and  sustained  throughout,  the 
coloring  vivid  and  lifelike,  and  the  entire  impression  upon  the  reader's 
heart,  not  unlike  what  would  be  produced  by  an  actual  pilgrimag* 
among  the  scenes  it  describes.  The  Rxtistical  accessories  are  in  tho 
most  finished  style  of  modern  excellence.  The  engrayings,  eleven  ia 
number,  are  by  Bijrt." — Christian  Parlor  Magazine. 

"  The  design  in  them  all  is  to  render  more  familiar  and  life-like  soma 
of  the  scenes  of  the  Bible.  They  are  exceedintjly  interesting  and  beau- 
tiful. By  tilling  up  from  personal  observation  the  outlines  presented  ia 
the  Bible,  the  author  accomplishes  the  double  task  of  familiarizing  tho 
mind  with  the  place  of  the  occurrence,  and  of  giving  to  the  event  a 
Titality  that  greatly  enhances  its  interest.  The  work  is  illustrated  with 
eleven  beautiful  engravinps,  by  Burt,  from  paintings  of  Calcot,  Turner, 
Harding,  Bartlett  and  Bolmar." — Christian  JnttUligcncer. 

"  A3  a  descriptive  writer,  Mr.  Headley  is  surpassingly  gifted,  ab  tha 
pages  of  his  popular  work  on  '  Napoleon  and  his  Marshals'  abundantly 
testify,  and  in  his  sketches  of  the  Sacred  Mountains — the  theatres  of 
Bome  of  the  most  thrilling  scenes  in  the  world's  history — his  enthusiasm 
pictures  them  to  the  mind's  eye  with  an  intense  and  vivid  power,  that 
kindles  to  sublimit3'.  The  book  before  tw  comprises  thirteen  of  these 
descriptions,  and  is  embellished  with  eleven  splendid  steel  engravings 
of  the  mountains,  which  add  greatly  to  its  interest  and  yal\ie."— Spring- 
field Gazette. 

"  The  volnrao  is  composed  of  a  number  of  essays  on  the  principal 
mountains  which  figure  in  biblical  history.  They  are  elegantly  written, 
and  distinguished  for  a  happy  blending  together  of  facts  and  the  im- 
agining of  a  mind  attuned  to  all  that  is  true  and  beautiful  in  the  works 
of  nature  and  the  human  heart.  We  feel  thankful  towards  I\Ir.  Headley 
for  his  interesting  comments  npon  the  Sacred  Mountains,  and  assure 
our  readers  that  a  perusal  of  them  will  improve  the  miud  and  reform 
the  feelings  of  the  heart."— iV.  Y.  Evening  Post. 

"  The  theme  of  this  volume  Is  exceedingly  well  calculated  to  bring 
out  Mr  Headley's  great  powers  of  rapid  picturesque  narration,  colored 
all  over  by  the  gorgeous  glow  of  a  vivid  and  fertile  imagination.  Tho 
Bacrcd  mountains  of  Ararat,  Sinai,  Hor,  Fisgah,  Olives,  Zion,  Tabor, 
etc.,  have  been  the  scenes  of  snch  grand  and  awful  events,  and  are  so 
associated  with  all  that  is  most  momentous  in  the  world's  history  or  the 
destiny  of  man,  that  even  tho  coldest  nature  almost  would  feel  some- 
thing of  inspiration  in  commemorating  them.  Few  could  do  this  so  well  as 
Mr.  Hea-lley.  With  warm  religious  feeling  he  unites  an  ardent,  im- 
petous  character,  and  the  style  and  mode  of  treating  his  subject,  that 
would  seem  rather  exaggerated  with  other  themes,  applied  to  thia  seem 
fitting  aud  becoming." — Buffalo  Commercial  Advertiser. 

"  The  reader  aa  be  peruses  these  sketches  almost  imagines  himself 
transported  to  the  sacred  spots  where,  thousands  of  years  a<;o,  the 
eccucs  transpired,  and  fancies  ho  can  hear  the  thumicrings  and  light- 
nings of  .'Mount  Sinai  while  Moses  was  receiving  tho  Tables  of  the  Ij»w  ; 
or,  standing  with  lum  upon  Mount  I'isgah,  he  sees  in  tho  distance  the 
land  that  flowed  with  milk  and  honey."— C/imtian  Secretary, 
UarWord. 

"  The  aithor  hafl  given  a  glowing  description  of  thirteen  of  thope 
moTintainf  ccl«brat«(l  ia  &}riptwti  luiWry,  oud  <jt  the  uemoiablo  crtats 


which  make  them  objects  of  deep  and  general  Interest  to  the  whole 
human  family.  The  Boul-stirriDg  diction  and  splendid  imagery  peculiar 
to  the  writinga  of  Mr.  Headley,  invegt  these  themes  with  many  neif 
oharmS,  and  cannot  fail  to  awaken  the  most  pleasurable  emotions  in  tbo 
mind  of  the  reader. 

"  The  work  is  embellished,  not  merely  filled,  with  splendid  cngrarings, 
Which  are  well  calculated  to  illustrate  the  graphic  descriptions  of  this 
popular  writer.— TeacAer'i  Mvocatt,  Syracuse. 

"  The  intention  of  the  author  of  the  Sacred  Mountains  is  to  render 
more  vivid  and  life-like  the  scenes  of  the  Bible,  with  which  we  are  all 
familiar,  yet  which  we  are  apt  to  look  upon  as  less  natural  than  th» 
scenes  of  eyery-day  life.  No  one  was  better  fitted  for  this  work  than 
the  author.  With  an  easy,  graceful  style,  a  language  exceedingly  chaste 
and  rich,  he  portrays  to  our  imagination  the  scenes  to  which  the  Sacred 
Mountains  were  witness,  and  impresses  them  indeUbly  upon  the  mind. 
—Christian  Advocate  and  Journal. 

"The  subjects  afford  a  fine  scope  for  the  very  graphic  descriptire 
talent  of  the  author,  who  has  never  shone  to  better  advantage — especi- 
ally in  the  sketch  entitled  Mount  Ararat.  The  last  of  the  thirteen  ia 
very  beautiful,  though  brief  It  is  entitled  the  Mount  of  God,  and  in 
the  description  of  it  the  author  has  most  happily  gathered  up  the  great 
moral  truths  which  those  eky-pointing  peaks  symbolize,  and  to  which 
they  point  the  way. 

''  It  was  a  happy  idea  which  lead  Mr.  Headley,  to  group  together  spots 
rendered  immortal  by  the  thrilling  and  solemn  scenes  they  have  wit- 
nessed. He  has  thus,  by  associating  his  own  genius  with  subjects  which 
must  always  be  the  objects  of  deep  and  permanent  interest  to  the  Bible 
reader,  ensured  for  his  work  an  enduring  reputation." — N.  S.  Observer. 

"  Throughout  the  entire  volume,  the  writings  are  of  that  elevated 
character  which  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  subject,  and  which  gives  it  a 
value  far  above  any  work  of  the  kind  that  has  ever  come  under  our  eye. 
The  illustrations  are  beautiful,  being  accurate  drawings  from  the  moun- 
tains represented.  The  engravings  are  fourteen  in  number,  admirably 
designed  and  well  executed." — Rochester  Daily  Advertiser. 

"  This  is  truly  a  beautiful  volume,  in  which  the  printer,  engraver 
paper  maker  and  binder,  engage  in  friendly  rivalship  to  outdo  each 
other.  The  vignette,  representing  Bethlehem,  is  exquisite,  and  the 
eacred  mountains,  Ararat,  Moriah,  Sinai,  Hor,  Pisgah,  Carmel,  Le- 
banon, Zion,  Tabor,  and  Olives,  are  beautifully  pictured  to  the  eye 
The  descriptions  of  these  sacred  spots,  and  the  reflectious  they  awaken 
are  poetically  rich  and  impressive,  evincing  no  small  power  in  tha(r 
ityle  of  writing  by  which  Mr.  Headley  haa  acquired  popularity."— 
Preibyttrian. 


WASHINGTON  AND  HI3  OENERALSi 

By  J.  T.  Headley,  author  of  "  Napoleon  and  his  Marshals," 

"  The  Sacred  Mountains,"  &c.    In  two  volumes.    12mo. 

pp.  318. 

"  We  have  read  it  with  an  nnwonted  decree  of  pleasure  and  admira- 
tion. IMany  people  complain  that  American  history  I.icks  romance ;  that 
it  has  in  it  nothing  stirring  or  striking :  and  is.  therefore,  dull  and  spirit- 
less, beside  the  annals  of  Europe.  Mr.  Headlet  has  giren  to  this 
objection  the  most  thorough  and  conclusive  refutation  it  could  possibly 
receive ;  and  itiis  not  likely  to  be  heard  again.  He  has  given  to  the 
incidents  of  our  Revolution,  by  his  graphic  and  spirited  descriptions,  an 
intensity  of  interest  not  surpassed  in  the  grandest  achicvmenC.4  of  Na- 
poleon's troops.  Instead  of  giving  simply  the  naked  details  of  what  was 
done,  like  most  of  those  who  have  written  upon  the  same  subject,  he 
lias  breathed  into  them  the  breath  of  life ; — he  bring?  his  rea-leriuto  the 
immediate  presence  of  the  act  he  describes  ; — his  word.s  have  a  burning, 
rushing  power ;  and  yon  can  no  more  doubt  the  reality  of  his  pictures, 
than  you  couM  have  doubted  the  reality  of  the  original,  scenes,  had  yoa 
been  in  the  midst  of  them." — Courier  aiid  Inquirer. 

"  Unlike  all  the  histories  of  the  American  Revolution,  which  aim  to 
give  the  causes  and  the  results  of  tlie  war,  IMr.  Headley  pre.«ents  tho 
eventful  part  of  that  Revolution,  and  describes  the  scenes  which  trans- 
pired .seventy  years  ago  with  such  nvrvuns  precision  and  accurate  detail, 
that  the  reader  fancies  himself  on  the  spots  where  the  principal  battles 
occurred,  and  feels  that  he  is  living  in  ■'  the  times  that  tri>:d  men's  souls." 
No  author  ever  possessed  the  power  to  present  a  battle,  or  any  other 
Bcene.  in  the  glowing  life-like  descriptions  of  Hea'iley." — Cliristian 
Secretary.  _ 

"  We  are  mnch  pleased  with  this  book,  and  question  whether  any  offer- 
ing could  be  more  acceptable  to  the  American  reader.  Washington  sur- 
rounded by  his  heroic  band  of  Generals,  and  all  moving  amid  the  great 
events  of  the  American  Revolution,  is  the  grandest  spectacle  in  history; 
and  the  masterly  pen  of  Hea-Iley  has  succeeded  to  a<lmiration  in  present- 
ing it  In  all  its  own  intensity  of  interest. — ■'  Washington  and  his  Gene- 
rals," like  "  Napoleon  and  his  INIarshals,"  seems  to  us  more  like  a  master 
piece  of  painting,  than  a  mere  work  of  letters,  so  matchless'  are  the  de- 
scriptions of  the  most  exciting  scenes,  so  perfect  are  the  delineations  of 
character." — Daily  Jleraid. 

"  There  is  no  diCllcuUy  in  understanding  the  secret  of  the  great  popn- 
larity  which  the  writings  of  Mr.  He:ulley  have  so  rapidly  obtained.  He 
speaks  heartily,  earnestly,  truthfully,  and  the  warm  heart  answers  to 
his  voice.  In  his  Wa.shingtou  he  has  exceeded  himself,  prxiucing  a 
noble  portrait  of  the  noblest  man:  and  weaving  such  a  garland  as  patri- 
otism and  reverence  love  to  place  on  the  brow  of  the  Father  of  his  Coun- 
try."- iV:  Y.  Observer. 

"  Every  page  has  some  graphic  picture  of  the  stiring  scenes  in  which 
Washington  and  his  Generals  were  actors.  The  characteristics  of  these 
raliant  champions — their  stern  patriotism — their  noble  sacriflocs,  and 
their  indomitable  energy  and  courage — are  portr.ayed  with  great  beauty, 
and  pre.sent  the  men  and  their  times  to  the  reader  with  more  than  pio- 
torial  strength  and  clearness." — Albany  Evening  JoumuL 

"Th«ngh  we  are  necessarily  familiar  with  much  of  the  hi.itorical  mat- 
ter comprised  in  Mr.  Headley's  book,  yet  his  admirable  style  of  narra- 


tJve,  and  yivid  coloring  of  the  more  stirrihg  scenes  Invest  these  memoir* 
with  a  peculiar  interest,  and  give  tliem  a  freshness  that  is  very  accepta- 
ble. Familiar  as  we  were,  with  the  battle  of  Hunker  Hill,  we  3-et 
derived  a  more  vivid  conception  of  it  from  Mr.  ileadley's  graphic  pen, 
than  we  ever  before  realized,  and  this  is  only  one  among  many  occa- 
sions in  the  perusal  of  his  work,  where  we  felt  the  powerful,  and  we  may 
eay,  resistless  intiuence  of  his  exciting  eloiuence." — The  Courier. 

"We  might  particularize  instances  which  have  thrilled  us  in  the 
perusal ;  but  they  are  scattered  over  the  volumes.  Mr.  Headley  haa 
undertaken  a  difficult  worl^  in  the  production  of  these  sketches.  It  is  a 
work  only  of  an  artist — a  genius  ;  and  to  be  acoornplished  only  by  labo- 
rious, tedious  investigation." —  The  OIuo  Obser-ver. 

No  writer  has  delineated  the  thrilling  scenes  and  events  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary struggle  with  such  graphic  power.  He  places  one  as  it  were 
upon  the  very  theatre  of  action  and  bloody  conflict;  the  surrounding 
incidents,  under  the  influence  of  his  magic  pen.  assuming  the  reality  of 
visible  objects,  and  impressing  themselves  upon  the  mind  with  the 
vividness  of  personal  observation.  This  work  fills  a  place  in  American 
Literature  occupied  by  no  other.  It  is  sui  generis.  And  we  know  of 
none  so  likely  to  beget  in  the  youthful  mind  a  keen  and  permanent  relish 
for  the  history  of  hiB  country,  as  this." — Onoiidago  Democrat. 

"These  sketches,  or  whatever  they  may  be  called,  are  certainly  snr- 
prising  productions.  We  are  all  of  us  more  or  less  familiar  with  the 
heroes  and  the  battles  of  the  Revolution.  History  and  the  faltering 
tongues  of  the  few  decayed  survivors  of  those  trying  times,  have  fought 
over  and  over  our  battles  for  liberty. — They  have  all  been  carefully, 
minutely  and  accurately  described  by  the  most  veritable  historians  of 
the  times.  Those  thrilling  scenes  in  which  our  fathers  sutTered  and 
died,  that  we  micrht  live,  have  been  painted  in  all  their  lights  and  shades ; 
but  they  wanted  a  master's  hand  to  finish  them.  Headley  has  brought 
down  fire  from  heaven,  and^iven  life  to  the  whole.  We  had  all  the  fea- 
tures before,  but  comparatively  lifeless.  Headley  has  given  them  ani- 
mation and  soul,  and  the  work  now  under  consideration  is  equal  in  point 
of  interest  to  any  other  relating  to  the  great  moral,  civil  and  political 
Revolution  of  1776." — Saratoga  Republican. 

"  We  welcome  IMr.  Headly  to  American  ground,  and  to  a  work  for 
which  he  of  all  our  writers  is  best  fitted — the  presentation  of  the  im- 
mortal achievements  of  our  revolution — as  they  present  themselves  to 
the  popular  heart,  and  not  to  the  dry  historian  in  his  search  for  details. 
The  various  publisheii  lives  of  the  generals  of  "76,  though  carefully 
written  and  filled  with  interesting  facts,  have,  we  venture  to  say,  im- 
pressed themselves  but  little  on  the  national  mind,  and  been  compara- 
tively little  read— this  because  the  writer  did  not  become  fired  with  the 
heat  of  the  times  they  wrote  of,  and  thus  by  their  imagination  reproduce 
the  feeling  and  recall  the  tone  of  the  great  struggle  fur  freedom  and 
independence.  Yet  it  is  morally  important  that  such  a  work  should  be 
written — because  thereby  the  spirit  of  the  great  founders  of  our  nation 
may  be  made  part  of  our  spirit,  and  pass  into  our  national  life  and  cha- 
racter. Mr.  Headley  has,  we  thinlt,  done  this  most  successfully,  and 
we  have  read  his  sketches — as  he  modestly  terms  them  in  his  preface, 
with  strong  interest  and  satisfaction.  We  should,  however,  come  short 
of  doing  him  justice,  if  we  should  not  refer  to  a  difliculfy  he  has  had  to 
contend  with,  and  which  he  mentions — the  barrenness  of  personal  inci- 
dents in  the  accounts  of  the  battles — owing  probably  to  the  want  of  a 
newspaper  press  in  those  times,  and  also  to  the  dignity  of  manner  and 
language  that  then  prevailed  which  did  not  CQCOOragQ  a  fauuliai  katw- 
ledge  of  public  cbafwt«ra,"— Ctw,  Inquirer. 


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